Reprisal
by iTroll And iRead
Summary: Ha, not giving anyone a summary anymore.
1. Probing at the Moon's eyes

**Chapter 1: Probing at the Moon's eye**

_'I feel so... lonely.' _I thought, as a single tear rolled down my cheek. I sat there on the bench, the very bench I have been on ever since the first period. My forehead was on the desk, and my eyes hovering above a library book. I had been reading it, ever since the day had started, excepting the times when the teachers taught their lessons. The book had been the only company I had had.

I closed the book and placed it on the desk. I looked around the many faces of the students, talking, chatting, bustling with exhiliration. They didn't even bother to glance at me. They were eating away at their burgers, fried rice,_briyani, _and many such Indian delicacies. Bunch of girls were jumping around the classroom, stealing chalks from the teacher's table and drawing pictures that basically violated my mind. Boys skidded from bench to bench, in their monkey like fashion. Some of the drama queens hung around outside in the corridor, standing in cliques and gossiping about the latest tragedy of our school. But, of course, I only just sat there, observing the scene.

With nothing to do, I stared out the grilled window. It was a monsoon day in Chennai, India. The trees in the campus of our school**— **St Beth's High — swayed from side to side, tauntingly at me. The clouds in the sky swiftly moved by. The cement paved ground below was damp with rainfall. More teens were walking around, with canteen food in their hands. They all had friends. And family.

Getting even more bored and depressed, I decided to go fetch some food for myself. My orphanage only gives a limited amount of money for each individual, and with the money I had, I could probably only get myself an ice cream.

I was hungry, anyways. So I got up, and walked right out into the corridor, disregarding the others. Some of the drama queens followed me around, not because of I was popular, but to tease me. One of them pointed at me as I climbed down the stairs and yelled. "Preethi? Why are you outside? No one wants to see your face, anyway!"

I ignored her and kept walking. I heard laughs and high five claps behind me, and clip clopping of their Mary Janes. Another voice called, "Ha, girl. Going off to insult people's music favorites again?"

I thought. 'I never insulted anyone's music faves. I just don't listen to music.' At least, I can't _afford_ to.

Another drama queen, a voice I little too familiarly know said. "Preethi you have some serious issues. I wanted you to know that."

I stopped, and turned. Then I said, calmly, although my heart mustered unimaginable amount of anger. " Nila, I may have issues, but at least I don't go bawling about them to anyone."

"Well,you don't _have_ anyone!" she smirked and waved to her cronies to follow her. They left me, standing on the step, just looking behind them. My fist clenched around the spoiled wooden banister leading down to the ground floor. I wanted to scream, yell at everyone, at the world, this beautiful yet blindingly painful earth that I stand on, and also the 'Gods' that have never so far helped me. I felt my knees buckle, the same way it always does when I get angry or emotional. I clutched my plaid navy blue skirt, straightened and walked downstairs towards the canteen, to get myself the ice ream that I very well deserve. After all, I did nothing wrong.

I bought myself that ice cream and sat under a banyan tree. I stared at the many faces, around the table, laughing, and yet again having such enjoyable fun. No one even cared about a lonely girl under a tree. They had companions. This is how my recess goes everyday.

All this joy, all this mirth around me in the atmosphere just made me feel... miserable. No more, no less. Because all I had was an orphanage to send me to school. I had no friends in the orphanage either, no friends here, no parents**— **goodness knew what had happened to them. I was brought up in the orphanage, so I had no clue!**—** no friends or relatives anywhere. It comes down on me, the anxiety and forlorn, every minute of my life. I was that helpless.

As I tried to recollect the happy events of my life, which I tell you, I had only a limited few, I took a bite into the ice cream. It was so sweet, so cold and soft. Just like how revenge would feel. Revenge would feel... wonderful. I would love to take revenge on... the orphanage kids who only looked at me as an outcast and the entire universe of Gods that have left me at this state. But mainly I wanted to cast revenge on Nila and her drama queen gang, who have tormented me ever since I can remember, even more gruesomely than what they did today. They have even asked me to bite off their toenails for them, which when I refused, the cornered me into the wall and stuffed their sweaty underwear into my mouth.

Suddenly, light shined brightly above me. Instead of the light feeling warm, it felt cold and pleasing. As it shone over me, I made out the face of a girl, illuminating on the light screen. She seemed translucent, and when I reached out to touch her cheek, my hand went right through.

She has pretty features. With a slight daze, I noticed that all her features were similar to that of Nila's. She had curly locks that seemed to have been woven from the light, and her face glowed just like how Nila's does when she get's her facial every week. Her lips were cherry red, and her eyes warm brown, exactly like Nila's eyes and lips. I had no idea why Nila was doing here.

She said. "Well, child. I suppose you have gotten really mad at all the Gods for this, haven't you?"

"What? Who are you?" I was astonished, and I almost fell back and hit my head against the thick bark of the banyan. My eyes widened. How could light talk?

"Me?" she laughed. "I'm revenge itself, child. And I have given birth to you, child of revenge."

"What do you mean?"

"Why, I'm Nemesis, girl. Don't you recognize your own mother?" she went, guffawing in an unruly fashion.

"Nemesis?" I stared wildly at her. "Aren't you that one Greek God?"

"Oh yes, yes... I am Greek. Good you recognized."

"But how are you my mother?" I asked, my mouth wide open. "How are you... here?"

"Bah... That's not important." she went. "I'm here to help you get revenge."

"Revenge? Against who?"

"The person whom you saw, instead of me. I gather you hold a grudge against that horrible Nila."

"So you want to help me get revenge against Nila?" The thought was excruciatingly tempting for a second. But it felt wrong. So I shook my head and went. "No. I was only thinking... But I don't want to."

"You _were_ only thinking of payback. And payback is something important. First, I want you to get revenge on those people." she said, licking her unclear lips. "How sweet it is to help people with their revenge. It is so fun to watch. Now, I want you to start with that Nila girl who had picked on you earlier. Get revenge on her... and I will do my helping from the side lines. Now off you go. That is all you have to hear."

"But there was no point in you coming! You did nothing!"

"I did everything! Now shush, and shoo!"

The dropping curtain of light faded. I sat there, below the tree, holding an ice cream glass and wearing a skirt puddled with soft cream. What was that all about? Recess was over too... and no one was around. I blinked, and recognized that I was in for a nice, long tardy.

And also, I noticed that I had gone totally crazy.

* * *

When the teachers found out that I was late for biology class, they handed me a tardy slip for detention. I was extremely annoyed. First of all, I wasn't sure whether I had actually seen 'Nemesis' or if I had plainly gone mad. Second, all I could do now was think about what she had said. She had just, just like that, asked me to go fetch justice from Nila, and that she would help me get it. But honestly, getting revenge would just mean more bad things happening to me. Nila would get over it pretty quickly, then she would come after me with her buddies and punch me in the face or something. Unless, I did something that she would never forget. Which I highly doubt I can.

What most hit me hard was wondering why Nemesis had called herself my mother. Yup, I was obviously mad.

So I sat there, looking out the window again, and my biology teacher threw a chalk at me. I was truly startled, and I stumbled and hit my back against the wooden headrest of the bench. The whole class broke into a wild explosion of laughter. Boys tooted and hooted, and the girls giggled and jiggled. I straightened, and brushed my skirt. Can't people be more mature?

Our biology teacher, Antoinette Rajkumar's nose twitched. She waved one arm, and the class slowly quietened. Then, she focused her beady bug eyes on me, and said. "What? Found something interesting outside?"

"No, ma'am." I said, standing up with forced respect.

"So just passing your time I suppose."

I stood there, quite sheepishly, and went. "I...I'm... forgive me ma'am."

"Let me consider forgiving you later on. I assume you wish for another tardy punishment?"

"What? No! I'm really very sorry."

"Your apologies don't seem sincere. What about you heading over to the principal's office?"

"We will be happy to have her out of here ma'am!" said someone's voice. Probably one of Nila's paid little miserable friends.

"Quiet!" Teacher Antoinette said. She ran her fingers through her graying hair, found the rose in her bun and adjusted it. Then she spoke, sternly. "I shall forgive you this time, mind. Sit!"

I sat back down, daring not to turn back towards the window. Surely, Nemesis was only fetching me more agony.

Two more dreadful periods past by. Since we had eight periods, we have two recesses after every three periods before we left for home. In my case, before we left for the orphanage. So it was break period again, and this time I didn't go out to find trouble, the trouble found me. Nila had come over to my bench, alone.

"Well, I hope Antoinette hell a badly got to you." she said, snickering.

"She didn't get to me. I don't feel bad. Unlike _someone_ who chickened out when she broke up with her boyfriend"

Her face turned beet-red. "Don't you dare—" "I dare to. Because I wasn't the one coming over to you and trying to fight." I went, rather calmly. The poor attention seeker Nila then punched me in the face, while all the others in the class eating their second snack for the day turned around and watched. Her nails sunk into my throat. "You have no right, I say no right, to talk to me like that. You worthless, orphan." she hissed, right into my face.

I croaked. "I will rip all the balls you've got, Nila." "Will you?" she went, heinously. "Oh Preethi, I've already ripped up all the balls you've had. You have no friends, no family, no one." she leaned forward, and I could smell her sickeningly sweet blueberry breath. "You are a lonely, neglected, orphaned, ignored sod. The right word for you would be abandoned. So yeah, tell me. Where do you keep your balls?" I stared. She was right. I had no courage, no heroic fever. Even if I was courageous, I had no one behind to support me. I had no one to tell me I'm on the right path, I'm on the wrong. And therefore, I had no balls. I had no confidence.

I heard murmurs from around the class. Nila's face lit up with triumph at my silence. "So I guess I win." her grip loosening from my neck "As a punishment, I shall ruin your face." Her finger nails inched towards my face.

Something happened right then. Gusts of wind swept into the classroom, blowing my dark hair into my face. I began to scream, without control, as if something inside me was pushing out all the air from my lungs. Nila staggered backwards, dumbstruck. The class turned into a place of pandemonium.

Then, a voice that did not belong to me spoke from my mouth, "I may have been a coward. I may have been a friendless person with nobody to flank me. But I'm the Child Of Revenge and Retaliation, claimed by Goddess Nemesis herself. I have a family, I have more support than you can assemble, O Malicious Moon, and I have come with help to pay you your revenge, your well deserved revenge!"

With terror I realized it was the voice of Nemesis. And that the 'Malicious Moon' referred to Nila, and Nila meant 'Moon' in Tamil

All too suddenly, my vision had red smudges in it, and my soul felt as if it was being chopped into a million pieces. Slowly, my essence drained from my body, and evaporated into thin air. I couldn't really understand the feeling, but after a split second I was Nila. I mean, I was me, by character and personality, but when I looked down at my hands, I saw Nila's glowing skin, not my dry one. And also I saw the bracelet she adorned on her left hand, which read 'Believe'. So yup, my soul was in Nila's body. How's that?

I looked up from my arm and saw myself, leaning against the front bench of the classroom, with an expression of utter fright. The classroom flickered out of view, along with my class and classmates, as if all this long they were just a fragment of a simple illusion. Everything scintillated, and white walls appeared all around us. I haunted Nila's body, and I guessed, Nila haunted my body. I wasn't a believer of magic, but I'd effortlessly soul shifted. And that was saying something.

Like I had guessed, Nila's voice spoke from my body. "What did you _do_? Fudge, why am I _you_?" That was when Nemesis took over. My soul was pushed out of Nila's body, and I saw a ghostly figure akin to Nemesis enter Nila's frame. So basically, I was just a floating live wisp of smoke in the air, watching my possessed body and Nila's possessed body face one another.

Nila lifted her hand and drew a sword from thin air. Nemesis's voice spoke from her. "O Moon, I would like to take your eyes from you as revenge. Your eyes, according to me, are precious little moonstones. And when I rip the moonstones from your sockets, my vengeance will be cleared."

She brought the knife toward her own eyes. I watched, in horror, as Nila plucked the eyes from her own sockets. My body tried to knock out the knife from her hand, But a strong force threw my body backward. 'My Body' or 'Me' got up, but this time, a force field had formed around her, blocking her from Nila. Nila continued to cut through her eyes, and the knife went through it like cottage cheese. She wore a crazy smile on her face as she cut which sent a shiver down my smoky spine. I tried to stop Nila as well, but my body was stiff, ironically because I was nothing more than gas.

She dropped the knife and grinned wildly. I gasped, and turned around as much as fog could, without a neck. Her eyes, they—they were hideous! I still can't get over that day. It was... a nightmare.

Then, just like that, Nila's spirit floated out of my body and into her rightful one, and Nemesis's ghastly appearance rose from Nila's and disappeared, leaving behind only her cruel laughter. In nothing more than a millisecond, my soul was back in my own body.

My classroom reappeared. Screams erupted from all over. Awful wails escaped from Nila's mouth. I turned, and caught a glimpse of her ruined eyes, which where now bloody and torn. Blood now dripped down her white uniform blouse. All the students edged away from her, and some skittered across the classroom and out of the class, alarmed. Some ducked under their desks without thinking, to avoid looking at her eyes directly.

Nila tumbled backward, unable to see. She pointed her finger at random and said. "Preethi... Took out! Eyes!" before letting out more cries of pain.

Everyone faced students muttered and and grumbled, but most inched forward. I backed away, but the students outside the classroom tried to catch me by the hand. I knew there was no escape, because they had already formed an uneven circle around me. I knew this whole revenge thing was going to end up like this. And, I was probably gonna be thrown into jail for damaging her eyes. Probably I was completely insane, and I had only imagined me soul shifting and all I had done was rip out Nila's eyes with my fingers. Even if it were Nemesis who had done all this, she didn't mean anything good to me. She only meant evil.

My life was a lie. I was a phony.

Just when I was about to cower on the floor beneath all the people who had circled me, A huge stallion made entirely of storm and mist bounced into the middle of the circle. A boy with golden hair sat on it, looking all magnificent and heroic. He drew me by the hand and forcibly sat me on the horse. Urging the horse to jump back out of the class, he blew with a frozen me down the stairs and out of the campus.

**Well, that was the first chapter. I'm new to Fan Fiction. I need support and more reviews! Constructive criticism is welcome with open hands.**

**This chapter was a bit Percy Jackson unrelated, because this chapter mostly contained me and my OC. Hoped you enjoyed this chapter. :3**

**Disclaimer:[I do not own any of the H.o.O crew, or any of the H.o.O/P.J.O Characters mentioned in this Fan Fiction]**


	2. Meeting the unusual foreign crew

**Chapter 2: Meeting the unusual foreign crew**

The vapor horse zoomed across Nehru street, and the Ganges Main road. We passed a pharmacy, and a temple. I was too dazed to talk, and I was also tired.

We traveled many kilometers. My eyes drooped heavily as the horse zoomed past traffic. No one seemed to notice the horse at all, though. It was weird At last, the horse stopped before an abandoned looking shack in the middle of nowhere. The boy got off first, and I noticed he was from a foreign country. He was handsome, with electric blue eyes and golden hair, and a small scar on his upper lip. I tried to get off the horse as easily as he did, but I tripped and fell on my bottom. "Hey..." The boy chuckled and helped me up. He looked one or two years older than I was. "Come on. Follow."

I was like,"What the heck is this all about?" The boy turned and looked at me urgently. "Just come. We'll explain."

I had no choice but to follow. He led me to the backside of the shack, which had nothing more than shrubs and thorn bushes and glass shards. In the middle of the dump yard sat six people: two girls, three boys and a short man. They looked rather worn out and muddy. The boy with the golden hair asked me to go sit with the group. I squinted at him, upset, but sat down anyway. He announced. "I'll go wave Tempest one last goodbye." He left to the front side of the shack and after a few minutes, he came back to join us.

As soon as he sat, we began to...Um... get to know each other. I first introduced myself, rather inelegantly, and the two girls smiled sweetly and acknowledged me benevolently; Hazel Levesque, one of the girls, was African American with bushy brown hair and warm golden eyes and looked younger than me, while the other was, Piper McLean, was super gorgeous with brown hair braided using eagle feathers and beautifully tanned skin. Her eyes were extraordinary, changing from one color to another. One boy, he told me he was Leo Awesomeness Valdez, grinned at me like a madman, and I waved awkwardly. He had dark, curly hair and dark brown eyes filled with mischief. Another boy, Frank Zhang, a big, burly Asian dude with a buzz cut gave me a plain 'Hello'. The third boy was maybe a year or so younger than me. He had shabby hair that hid his eyes and he wore black clothes. First, I noticed a flash of surprise on his face. Then he frowned,and nodded darkly at me, saying his name was Nico. He gave me goosebumps, I tell you.

The short man, Coach Hedge, he seemed to be, chewed on his tongue and lifted the baseball cap he was wearing and plopped it back on his head.

I stifled a scream. 'Oh my...What were those?!' I thought. I pointed at his head and blurted. "What is that on your head?"

"A cap." He said, factually. "No!" I said, slapping my forehead. "The... the stubbly thingies... sprouting from your scalp!"

"Oh those..." He said, sleepily. Then he shook his head, balled his fist at me and yelled. "Those aren't stubbly thingies! Those are horns!"

"What do you mean?!"

"He's a faun." Said the blond haired dude. " Or, I guess, a satyr, you can call him."

A satyr? Wasn't that a Greek mythical creature? If this man was really a satyr, then... I had actually met Nemesis. It wasn't just a mad illusion, then.

I shivered. What was going on? "How is... How is he?"

"He_ is_ a satyr." Piper confirmed. "And we are all demigods. Do you... Do you know the story of Hercules?" she asked. I nodded. "Well, you see, he is a demigod. He is the son of Zeus, the king of the sky, and—"

"I get what you mean. A demigod is the child of a human being and a God, I suppose. But, if you guys are demigods, then..." I stared at them, in disbelief. "All of you have one godly parent?"

"Except for the satyr"She placed a hand on my shoulder. "You will need some time to get used to it. And, as far as the information Chiron gave us, Jason." She threw the blond dude a affectionate look. "You are a half blood too."

"Me?" What were they talking about. For a second, I thought these kids were poor old lost foreign tourists who had gone crazy due to the weather. But I knew that thought was too far fetched. "Are you serious?"

"Yup. Did you get claimed by any God yet?"

Claimed? What did she mean? Then, I recollected what had happened to me earlier that day. "Yes." I said. "Nemesis claimed me."

It alll came to me right there. Nemesis had said she was my mother, when I sat there eating that gooey, melting ice cream below the banyan. And also, when Nemesis's voice had spoken through my body, it had said, "..._ claimed by Goddess Nemesis herself" _So, if Nemesis was my godly parent, then...

"I'm a half blood." I felt defeated, and more confused. I licked my lips and continued. "But then, who is my father?"

"That, you _cannot_ ask me." Piper said. I stared at her, dejectedly. So I had one godly, proud and prudent mother. What about my father? Was I never going to meet him?

We all sat in silence, as the afternoon sun shone it's strongest rays at us. Then I asked, curiously. "How did you find me? In the middle of India, in this hot climate. Wasn't it hard?"

The golden haired boy who was supposedly Jason said, "Nah. Tempest is a wind spirit. And all Greek and Roman mythical creatures can sniff out demigods. Tempest got me right at your foot in no time. As for the climate..." He sniffed at it, disgustedly. "Well, it is a bit humid. I could adjust it just enough for me to not get dehydrated, though."

"How...?"

"Don't ask. I'm... Jupiter's child." He said it in a _'And I don't like it'_ sort of tone.

Jupiter is the king of all Gods in Roman myth. How can he not like being the child of Jupiter? I didn't want to ask him though. It would be rude.

"Heyyy, you have an accent!" Leo said, quite dramatically. I was like. "Duh, this is India. What do you expect?"

"Nothing... But I haven't really come across any kind of accent before." He drummed his fingers on the tool belt he was wearing. "Except for Coach's ship talk accent. Hilarious!"

"So your calling my English hilarious, aren't you?" I asked, while Coach grunted furiously.

"Oh no!" Leo pretended to look shocked. "It's just different. I like... I really like the way you,uh, say your 'r's and 'rawrs' and your..."

"Okay, okay!" I said, exasperated.

He grinned and gave me a thumbs up. I suppressed a smile. This guy was frustrating, yet very entertaining.

"Why are you guys in India, anyway?" I asked. "You guys are from America, right? Judging from your way of English." I shot Leo a warning look. " What are you doing in Chennai?"

"We are actually heading to Greece, to close the Doors of Death." Nico spoke, in a raspy voice. Dang. "Chiron sent us an Iris message, which is a form of communication through a rainbow. He said we might need an extra person to join our crew, for temporary reasons. Percy and Annabeth, our friends, have fallen into Tartarus, if you know where that is. The crew needs to have seven people, excluding the satyr. I'm filling in for Percy, while you— Gods know why Chiron wanted you to be our temporary member, no offense— will fill in for Annabeth."

After he had finished, he took a shaky breath, and went back to being silent. I shook my head at his very odd behavior, and I started to think back to the various History lessons I had taken. Geetha Ma'am had once said that Tartarus was a place believed to be a hole in the Underworld of the Greeks. She said that the hole went on forever, and that the Greeks believed that this Tartarus would trap all the monsters and Gods that have been destroyed and turned to ashes.

"So you're saying your two friends got killed and they're in a bottomless pit?"

"No, no!" Hazel said, aghast. Frank placed his hand on her shoulder, to calm her down. "They aren't killed. Let's keep our hopes up. No, they have fallen into it. You wouldn't understand how, though."

"Well, okay. So I'm just a substitute for this Annabeth?"

"Yes. And only temporarily. Because, as far as Nico and I can tell, they are alive. They are heading to their side of the Doors of Death, the one in Tartarus. We'll have to close it from both sides to completely succeed. But, as demigods, we have to fight giants, Gaia, who is Mother Earth, and a lot of other monsters. We barely survived with Percy and Annabeth to our sides. With them gone, we don't stand a chance. That's why Chiron—"

"Asked us to keep substitutes." Piper piped in. "We know Nico is strong. He is almost as strong as Percy. But... when Chiron told us to keep you, well, we weren't really sure how much a child of Nemesis could do."

"But Chiron doesn't say anything without a reason." Jason said, running his fingers through his hair. "If he wanted us to find her and take her along, there must be something we can't see in her." Everyone nodded in agreement.

I scratched the back of my neck. Okay, if all of this was true, was I supposed to fight monsters? I was a monster myself. I had hurt Nila, like actually freaking hurt her. I had maimed her eyes beyond repair. This wasn't the kind of revenge you take on a regular high school drama queen. If high school girls get this kind of revenge from a child of Nemesis, then what kind of revenge would a person who committed a bigger crime get? I didn't want to think about it just about then.

A part of me said that ultimately, I wasn't sure whether I was ready this. I was on the verge of tears, after the Nila incident. Now, these people want me to go out hunting. What was I supposed to do?

But Nemesis's voice spoke in my mind, 'These people already think you are incapable and fearful. If you don't go on this mission with them, they might think you are a coward. You will lose all the dignity you have."

This stewed up resentment in my heart. Before I could stop myself, I blabbed. "I'm in"

"You can't just say you're in." Jason replied. "It's already decided, by Chiron."

Whoever this Chiron was, it seemed like what he said was word. He must have be an intelligent person.

"Well, we've got her." Frank Zhang said. "Why don't we head to the airport to get on the _Argo?"_

"Yup Frank, we gettin' to that." Leo said. He turned and faced me, and raised an eyebrow. " You're translating and getting us back to the airport. Most rickshaw people only know your language."

"Fine. Sure."

"Well, we better get going." Jason said. "This shack does not belong to us, and if the owner finds out we occupied it, then we might be doomed."

"If only they had exchanged the drachmas I had brought for Indian currency," Piper muttered. "We could have booked a room or two in a decent hotel."

We all got up to leave to the nearby auto stand. Since I was familiar with the area, I lead the way. When we got there, we spotted only one rickshaw. The stand was suspiciously empty, as if suddenly, the stand was running in full business. One rickshaw man leaned over the auto, looking pleased. He had a cruel smile playing on his lips, and I was terrified at one point. You can't trust random people. Not when they look so, rouge like.

Jason tapped on my shoulder and beckoned me to ask the man for a ride. I sighed and stepped forward. "_Vandi_ v_aruma?" _I asked, unsteadily.

_"_You don't need to use Tamil with me, girl." He replied, in craggy English. "Come on, hop in. I can take you anywhere, but watch the meter"


	3. No more rickshaws!

**Chapter 3: No more rickshaws!**

We hoped onto the rickshaw and took our seats. It was huge enough to carry all of us. The driver pulled the gear, and then he drove off. I had a chance to notice the driver a little more closely through the tiny rear view mirrors. His skin was shriveled and black. He had pointy ears and balding hair. His eyes were large and wayward. Overall, he looked... odd. He seemed to be the kind that betrays without thinking.

We zoomed under the bridge, past the forest, and an exotic Indian spice store. After waiting in loads of traffic, we swept by the Gandhi River and entered the airport. Once we had parked in the given space, we got off and stepped onto the pavement.

The driver leaned out of gaping doorway to shotgun. "Money?" He asked questioningly.

Piper exchanged glances with everyone. She whispered under her breath to Jason "Um, didn't we use up the little Indian money we had on the rickshaw drive to the shack?"

Jason nodded nervously at her and turned to the driver.

"We—We've got none." Jason, setting his posture.

"Oh." The man didn't seem very surprised. Then the cruel smile glued itself back onto his face. "Then, I would need you to pay something else."

Jason skid backward, compelling us all to do the same. "What do you mean by that?"

The driver slipped out of his seat. He stretched his arms expectantly, and Jason's hand reflexively went to his pocket. He brought out a golden coin as big as his palm. The man's eyes focused on the coin. His smile widened, and he said. "That weapon, boy. Good price." He said, trying to grasp it out of his hand. Jason drew his hand back just in time. His jaw dropped. "You _knew_ this was a weapon?!

" 'Course" the driver went casually. Then he turned to Piper and peered greedily at a gleaming knife strapped to her pants, which I hadn't even noticed before. "And Katoptris, my darling. Such a beautiful knife, just like you. Want, I do." He slowly shifted his gaze towards Hazel, "_Spatha_!" He commanded. He turned to Frank next, glanced at him quickly and ignored him, turned to Hedge and growled, "Satyrs! Bah!", and to Leo, he ordered. "Tool-belt, grease monkey!" After, he sneered at Nico and said, "Stygian Iron. Gorgeous. Need!"

His eyes glowered over me. He grinned repulsively at me, and tried to lick his lips seductively, but it didn't work. He said, "And you, hon. You will be my queen. You will... please me when I want you to."

Before I could react, he rubbed his palms together and smacked his lips delightedly, "That is all you'll have to pay, dears!"

"Nuh-Uh" Piper said, as Jason flipped the coin in his palm. The coin, before my eyes, turned into a golden sword.

"Oh my..." I literally fell back into Hazel. I held my head with my hand, as I watched Jason slash at the man.

The man started to shrink when Jason's sword was millimeters away from the his shoulder. I heard his laugh increasing pitches, till it was basically a shrill. He sunk into his auto driver clothes, and soon, there was only a pile of clothes on the ground were he had stood.

The hill of apparels began to quiver, and soon a dried up head popped out of the top. It grinned the same grin the man had worn. It was bald, with withered up skin and pointy ears. It jumped out of the pile, and I saw that all it had on was a loincloth wrapped around its body. It's body was a shade of flesh pink, like burnt skin. It hopped and snatched the sword from his hand. For such a small creature, it could carry heavy weights. Then it ripped Piper's knife from her pants, grabbed Hazel's sword from her back—Which again, I hadn't noticed. I'm not such a great observer— Unraveled the tool-belt Leo had on his hip, hopped past Frank and Hedge, and took the sword Nico had in his hand.

"You can't catch me!" It shrieked, as it ran by the parked cars and into the airport's international flight building.

Jason asked the Coach, Frank, Hazel and Nico to stay outside in case any other monsters came by. Surprisingly, he asked me to come. I was astonished, because how can he trust someone like me, who he had just met, to follow the monster? But I ran along with them after the gnome— or whatever it was —into the airport.

I realized a while later that Jason had only asked me to follow because he wanted me to do the translation if we got in trouble with the airport security and other such people. Figures.

While we were trying to keep up with the drolly brat, Piper panted. "He is a Kobalos. I'm surprised Coach didn't notice he was a monster when we were riding the auto!"

"Seems... Ah, legit!" Leo heaved in between breaths, "But...How did you... oh, quality time with your dad?"

Piper's face was red, half from running, and half from irritation. She ignored Leo's comment and went, still focusing on the Kobalos weaving underneath baggage handles and skirts, making everyone scream and prance around in their shoes. "Jason, Kobalos look weak and small. But they are huge tricksters, and they're strong in their own ways." She pointed at the monster slithering up the wall and landing back onto the ground, and a lady yelping and backing away from it. "Regular Mortals view Kobalos as the thing they most fear, maybe a mouse, or a huge spider. But we half-bloods can view it in it's real form."

Jason nodded, increasing his speed and taking the lead. The Kobalos climbed up onto a vending machine, and came diving back towards the floor, somersaulting and rolling steadily before getting back onto it's tendril like legs and running off. It had dropped the _Spatha _in the crash, and it couldn't turn around and pick it up because we were closing in on it. Jason did pick up the _Spatha_,however. Piper warned him to slip it into the back of his shirt. "Jason, Leo. You can't use your powers until we get far away from the mortals." She cautioned, leaving me to wonder what powers she was talking about.

The Kobalos jumped into the check in area. The check-in was crowded with people. Luggage littered the floor, and people stood before the check-in clerk, confirming the validity of their visas and passports. We rushed after vermin, without any passport verification. A security guard spotted us running into the baggage check, and chased after. We chose to run forward carefree. But the problem was, the security guard had an electric baton, so it was going to be a deal if we got caught.

We pushed past people and senior citizens waiting in line for a bag scan. We ran straight through the metal detector, and we could here irate grumbles from behind. The metal detector immediately beeped, and I knew it was because of the sword. We chose to just keep racing down, though. The Kobalos had slipped into the bag scanner, and it came back through the other side. As I ran by the screen on the machine, I saw an infrared picture of the sneaky little Kobalos, sticking out it's tongue grotesquely.

By then, a handful of security guards had crowded around. Obviously they had heard about four kids sabotaging the whole airport procedure. It would only be a while before they found out that we were those four kids. Since they all wielded metal batons and walkie-talkies, we wouldn't stand a chance.

Piper mouthed the words, 'Get away, you guys' I didn't understand how she would manage, but Jason and Leo had already turned to leave. So glancing at Piper for one more time, I decided to follow them.

We passed a few indoor fast food places, gift shops and clothe stores before we found the Kobalos, heading down the escalator to Terminal 'A', meant for the _British Airways_. The terminal was empty, except for some clerks moving in and out. A glass wall watched upon the many airplanes parked outside near the runway. It was really intriguing, the airport was. I've never seen one in my life.

We stumbled down after Kobalos, which had been causing us all this damage. We were only a step away from and, and Jason drew the _Spatha_ and stabbed. The Kobalos cried with pain, but quickly recovered and leapt, ending up next to a half open door, which he squirmed into. After climbing down the escalator, Leo and I slid through the door. Jason offered to stand outside, barricading the entrance from any intruders.

The stench in this room was musty times million. I figured it was a supply closet, composed of cubbies and drawers. Brooms and mopes were tilted against the algae covered damp walls, and the floor was broken and cracked beneath us. It was big enough to hold me, Leo and the pesky Kobalos, but if Jason had tried to fit in here, well, let's just say I would be stuffed head to butt inside one of the cubbies. Only after seeing this dark and stuffy room did I feel the tiredness of running through the freaking airport.

I collapsed, right there, right then, clutching my chest. "Leo, kill the pest." I croaked,

But the 'pest' had already traveled far beyond our reach, for it had climbed atop one of the highest cubbies. Cursing, Leo clawed and gripped, trying to place his foot on one of the smaller cubbies in effort to reach it. He was halfway up, but then he slipped and fell on top of me. The Kobalos booed and cackled.

"Ouch," Leo said, as he got off my aching back and scratched his head. "Slipped on flashlight. Those things are evil." He got on his feet, cracked his knuckles and flicked his wrists. A small line of fire shot from his hand. I almost fainted on the spot, "How did you...?" But Leo wasn't paying attention,"My fire isn't traveling all that far. I can only hit close ranged objects. It's probably because we're in this musty room" He started to climb up the cubbies again, but then something went off in my brain. "Wait up."

"What?" He said, one leg placed far higher than the other.

I could give him no more than a wink. Then,I lifted my chin and faced the Kobalos. It hadn't budged from it seat.

"Oh, Kobalos!" I said as theatrically as possible. "I agree to be your queen! I agree to bring you pleasure. But, Lord Leo-Leonard, who has kidnapped my mother, says he wouldn't let my mother go unless I marry him! I don't want to, not at all! I want you!"

"But—But, Mistress Gaia said this boy", He pointed at Leo disgustedly, "was a mere repair boy! How is he... Lord Leonard?"

"I am!" Leo said, understanding where I'm going with this, "I'm Hephaestus's chosen one! I'm his descendant, and hence, ah, forth, I clean up all the metal poop his automatons leave!" Then he quickly added, "Cleaning poop is a craft only us Lords can do."

"But—"

"Listen, O Mighty Kobalos!" I pleaded. "I need you to win this Lord against a competition. A tricking competition," The word 'tricking' changed it's mind. It sneered, and said, "Now that's my field. I will take you from Lord Leonard's hands. Consider it a job done!"

"Trick him well, Oh dear sweet prankster, and defeat Leonard in a gruesome way, save my mother, and take me away! If you don't, I'm afraid Leonard will defeat _you_ and take me away with _him_!"

Leo shuddered at the thought of being defeated and tortured. But the monster simply bounced down the cubbies. It had slid the weapons into it's loincloth, so it looked like it was going to fall off. It landed next to Leo. "Leonard", it said, "Bring it."

All that went through my mind was this: It's next to Leo. I smiled and cocked my head. There was no tricking competition. The pest had fallen into the net.

"Leonard." I said, "Fire."

Leo flicked his wrist one more time, and the last thing I saw of that little beast was it's eyes widening in utter shock. Ashes covered the floor, and so did charred flesh. The room stank worse than before.

Leo picked up the weapons from the repulsive looking pile, and stuffed it down his tool-belt. All of the weapons immediately disappeared into it, and I didn't know how that even happened. Leo kicked the door, and Jason opened it from terminal was still quite empty. Piper, Frank, Hazel, the Coach and Nico were all there standing next to him, looking frustrated and exhausted. Frank was bleeding from a cut in his arm, and one of the eagle feathers Piper used to braid her hair with was now sticking out of her ear.

"Guys," Jason said, " We have to leave. Trouble's coming our way, and Gaia might make her appearance soon. Coach and the others reported the earth shaking vigorously. They got attacked by wild harpies. They barely managed. And Piper only just sent the mortals back to work; they might come after us soon. Why don't we—"

"But I'm already here!" Said a voice that sounded like thousand rocks falling from a hilltop. The ground rumbled and laughter erupted from all sides. The clerks and few passengers screamed and ducked under whatever they found. I wanted to duck as well. Today was extremely crazy, and I was drained.

A huge chasm was opening up on the floor between us and the glass window that overlooked the airplanes. I would've tripped into it if it weren't for Hazel. She caught me by the arm and pulled me back.

Leo yelled hurriedly, "Argo is out in _Kingfisher's _terminal_!_"

"Can't run there!" Jason called over the ruckus. "Gotta break through! Frank, turn into a dragon!"

"Why—"

"JUST DO IT!" He screamed, backing away from the chasm that was expanding rapidly.

So he did. I had no time to look astounded, because already Hazel and Leo, who were on either side of me, had gotten hold of my arm. We had formed a chain of seven, and Frank was hovering above is, in dragon mode. Even Coach Hedge was holding on tight to Nico's hand, muttering something about killing Gaia single handed.

'SLAM!' Jason cried. Together we jumped over the chasm, but it was mostly Jason in the middle doing the jumping. He was strong, and it was good that he was in the middle about then. Frank went slamming into the glass, and the window broke to debris. Jumping through the empty space and landing on Frank's back, we left the vibrating earth and screaming mortals in Terminal 'A' and steered away towards the other side of the airport.


	4. Travelling to Greece in a trireme

**Chapter 4: Traveling to Greece in a Trireme.**

As we flew towards the east side of the airport, we heard alarms blaring from all over the place. I could see tiny human beings scampering about down below. I clutched on one of the dragon's scales, and it yelped, "That is my shirt! Stop trying to take it off!"

I had totally forgotten that the dragon was Frank. I released my grip, fast. Leo had the nerve to laugh, and I caught Hazel staring at him, bloodthirstily. Removing Frank's shirt was a disturbing thought, and I shivered.

We were now floating above the _Kingfisher Airlines_ planes. There were about three of them on the field, and one was wheeling its way towards the runway. A Land Rover was parked to the far end of the field. Frank drifted above the terminal building, and Leo called over the flapping of his wings, "There's my _Argo_!" pointing towards the Land Rover.

"Why did you park your van in the airport?" I asked. Then pausing, I asked, "First, why did you _name_ your van?"

"What van?" Leo asked, shocked. "You calling my _Argo II_ a van? Well, if that's how it's gonna be, woman..."

"It's the Mist, Leo." Hazel said, "She is probably still not used to it. Try taking a closer look at it."

I stared at the Land Rover closely. At first, it got kind of blurry, and then something huge came into view. Something unlike anything I've ever seen before.

I almost fell off Frank's back. "The warship! That's_ Argo II_?"

"Well, duh," Leo said. "And you called it a van. I wanted to punch you— "

"Shut up Leo" Piper went, "Your being rude."

"Rude?... Nah, I'm just being annoying." Leo said, flashing me a friendly yet crooked grin.

"Frank, land on the gangplank, without actually making contact with the earth." Jason said. "Still dangerous, but that's the best we can do."

And he did exactly that. We entered the ship, and Leo climbed straight up to deck, and the ship steered the boat away from the airport. The gangplank rose off the ground, and closed up. All of us except for Leo were up against the railing, as the ship gently sailed down the main road.

I noticed how aggressively built the ship was. It was about hundred to two hundred feet long, carrying loads of weapons like ballistae which can shoot explosive missiles and giant sailing oars. It had a metal dragon figurehead, which scared the daylights out of me. I went below deck, leaving the crew behind. There were eight cabins, one for each of us, I supposed. On the same deck, a little farther down, there was a huge room with a high ceiling, which had stalls like in a stable. A ginormous statue hung from the glass paneled flooring, dangling in midair, it's feet tied up with flags. Something seemed familiar about it, and it radiated a lot of energy. To the other side of the deck was the mess hall, which had plates readily on top of the table. The walls shifted from scene to scene, but I didn't recognize the place it was showing. It was probably a place in America.

After exploring this mighty ship, I went back to the railing. Coach Hedge wasn't there anymore, but Leo was. As I walked towards them, he raised his eyebrow and asked, "Impressive? Or no?"

"More than impressive. It's scary."

"Perfect. Be scared."

"Leo, are you sure Coach can steer well?" Hazel asked, uneasily.

"Yeah, I'm sure!" He said cheerfully. "He won't make you seasick, Hazel. Promise."

Hazel didn't look convinced. She glanced at Leo as if to say, _'I can't trust you, crazy person'_

"Oh, Hazel." Jason said, drawing the _Spatha _from his back carefully. "Here you go."

"And here _all_ of you go!" Said Leo, pulling the weapons one by one from inside his tool-belt. He handed the weapons to everyone, respectively.

We flew over the heavy traffic and beeping lights of Chennai city. I figured we were probably in Guindy by now, because I recognized the flyover slinking over the roads.

Coach Hedge was singing some kind of song above deck. It was '_Grenade_' by Bruno Mars, but except the chorus turned into, 'I'd throw a grenade at ya!'. Now I knew why Hazel felt fear when she found out Hedge was driving the ship.

"Uh, can we go to the mess hall?" Hazel asked, fretfully.

"Better we do." Jason agreed.

As we walked down the stairs to the mess, I noticed Nico turning and throwing anxious glances at me repeatedly. He had been so quiet all day, I had literally forgotten he was with us at one point. I wondered why I made him uncomfortable.

We took our seats in the hall, Jason at the head. Jason seemed to be the leader around here. Not only by appearance. He was also mentally strong and mighty.

As the walls changed around us— first showing beautiful strawberry fields and then switching over to a scenery of cabins— Jason spoke, "What did you do to get the weapons back?"

"Well, the new girl, Preethi," Leo pronounced 'Preethi' like Pretty, which really got on my nerve. It sounded so sarcastic, judging by how ugly I look. "She came up with this plan. She just, like, freaking hit the KobKob's pride point, and it brought him down, alright! My fire powers were weak in that room, so when he came in, BAM! I blasted him to dust. Preethi was EPIC!"

"You made a plan?" Piper asked curiously.

"Well it wasn't much of a plan." I replied, "I just tricked it to get down, so Leo could aim and fire close ranged. Remember how the Kobalos said he wanted me to...um, please him? I agreed, and he came down. For love, I guess."

Piper snickered. "Oh, I see what you did there." Then she said. "I still can't believe you came out with it. Because, it might seem like a small plan, but it brought that troublemaker down. New demigods aren't this strong, especially the child of Nemesis. You... you can do than revenge, you know?"

It was my time to snicker. Can I do more than revenge? I slit open an innocent girl's eyes for nothing more than that dreadful thing. Me, succeed in anything other than revenge? Oh, sure. Bringing a Kobalos down was nothing. It wasn't even greater than revenge in any way.

After a moment of silence, I turned towards Leo and went, "How _did_ you blast the Kobalos to dust, anyway?"

"Fire." He said. He snapped a finger, and a tiny fire sprang up from it. It lit his teeth in a flaming shade of orange as he smiled madly.

"You can't just, create fire out of nowhere!" I exclaimed, "You're tricking me! Doing some kind of magic!"

"No, it's a Hephaestus thing" Leo went, "Some kids of Hephaestus can summon fire. Out of nowhere. But don't ask us to pluck llamas out of thin air. We don't radiate that much awesomeness."

I stared at him blankly. Leo snapped his finger again and a large sandwich appeared on his plate. He took a huge bite into it, and ranch and mustard smudged all over his mouth.

"And this ship? Who built it?"

"Leo did." Jason said, slapping Leo on the back and making him spit a lettuce leaf and a mush of meat back onto his plate. "He _is_ a child of Hephaestus after all."

Leo gazed at Jason and back at his plate, which now held a slush of food and spit, aggravated. "Dude, seriously? I was just biting into the salami!"

"_Leo_ built it?! Without any help?!"

"Yeah, join the club" Frank grumbled, ordering Char Siu and Mantou onto his plate. He dug into his Mantou promptly.

"Oh my! I can't believe it! This? This is something even the air force of India doesn't have!"

"The A.F of America doesn't have anything like this, actually." Jason went, nodding.

It took me a while to overcome the shock and paralysis. Yup, paralysis. Leo was small. He was taller than me, sure. But he was scrawny and malnourished. Jason's potency was crystal clear when he stood next to Leo. But... He had done something that Jason hadn't done. He had built a warship with missiles. And an amazing Wii controller.

And Piper had given me credit for defeating a puny nuisance. Had she even given credit to Leo?

"Whoa, whoa!' I said, shaking my head, defeated. "Okay, you guys _have_ to tell me more about yourselves. Or I might have seizures."

"Well, I can create storms, control the air." Jason said, "That's how we managed it over the chasm. I cushioned the air up so we could hop over. Piper can charm-speak. That's how she managed to draw the mortals away from our tails." Piper waved her hand dismissively.

"Hazel's good with jewelry." Nico spoke. Finally! "And any other precious metal. She an manipulate underground pathways according to her will. Being a child of Pluto, she's stronger underground. I'm a child of Hades myself. And you can easily figure out what I'm capable of."

"Frank can turn into animals. The hardest he ever morphed into was the dragon. He can also summon soldiers from the dead." Hazel explained. "Hedge is just a very gluttony goat. And—And Percy and Annabeth were amazing demigods. Percy was...' Her voice was strained, the way it would when you talk about something you miss. Or someone who had gotten close to you. "Percy is a powerful demigod. He is the son of Poseidon. He controls water and creates small storms. And, Uh, and— I really miss him." She was trying not to choke up.

"Annabeth's also powerful. She's really stable, mentally. She's the child of Athena, so she's really smart. She likes architecture. I didn't really get the chance to talk to her much, but she's really nice." Frank said, and with a pause, he added, "She even told me about the Chinese finger trap" in a quiet voice.

"Guys, I miss them both. Terribly. We have to save them before... it's too late." Hazel went, her voice shaky.

The room silenced uncomfortably. All of their faces were full of grief. Jason shook his head miserably. Nico twisted a skull ring on his left hand, distractedly.

I saw the look on Leo's face. It was more than just sadness. He had an expression of guilt.

"I'm sorry guys." Leo said. "I'm sorry for this. But—But I'm on it. Percy and Annabeth're getting out of that ugly, dark hellhole. I've studied the scrolls, and the Archimedes sphere's ready to be installed. My ship'll become stronger. Really, much more stronger." He suddenly seemed interested with the plate of spit and sandwich glop. "I shouldn't have opened the fortune cookie. I should have just left the spheres behind, should have tried to save you guys some other way." When he looked up from the plate, his eyes were teary and wet. He said, in a inarticulate voice. "I'm going to go plan on inserting it somewhere aboard. now. See you guys later."

Without another word, he stood up, opened the door, and ambled down the deck towards his cabin.

Jason tried to catch up with him, but Piper caught his arm. "Jason, it's okay."

Jason nodded and sat back down.

"He doesn't get it." Piper said. "He thinks it's his fault. Maybe it was because he opened the cookie, but he had to. It was probably the only way to...you know, save you both, Hazel, Frank. The Gods don't give you anything unless it's truly important."

"I've been trying to tell him, that it wasn't his fault!" Hazel said. "Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus last week and I've been telling him that ever since, but he doesn't buy it. He's been quite absent! Haven't you guys noticed? He doesn't talk to us about anything other than that Archimedes sphere. He was in a decent mood today, but... Oh. It was my fault, reminding him about Percy and Annabeth."

Hazel sobbed. Frank placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Hazel... don't worry. I'll knock some sense back into Leo. Promise."

Hazel met eyes with Frank and kissed him. When she pulled away, she smiled weakly and said. "Please. Please do."

* * *

It was now 9 'o' clock PM. Nighttime. I sat on a blanket from Annabeth's cabin on the floor of the stable. I peered through the glass, seeing the lights and forests below. The moon shone above us. We had successfully passed Chennai's boundary.

I looked down below at my uniform blouse and skirt. It smelled like root beer. Yes... that's right. Leo had spilled it over me.

I had eaten some _puris_ and potato curry for dinner, alone in the mess hall. Piper, Nico and Hazel had gone to sleep without dinner. Frank had slept as well, only after finishing his Char Siu and Mantou. Frank and Jason had tried to make the other girls eat, but they had refused and had left for bed. Jason had eaten a single slice of bread and had decided to man the ship while Hedge sat in his bunker, all cozy and chomping away at tin cans. Piper hadn't seemed very sure about Jason oaring the ship, but he had claimed that Leo had taught him how to do it, and that he could manage primarily.

I had finished eating by the time they were in their respective cabins. I got up to leave to my own. Since mine— which was Annanbeth's rightful one when she was here— was at the far end of the deck, I had to cross the others' to get there. The cabins were all quiet except for Coach's —from which came the sound of breaking can— Nico's— He was chanting an ancient Greek lullaby to himself or something— and Leo's.

When I passed Leo's cabin, I heard some strange noises from inside. I heard him sniffing back tears, scuffling to his feet, yelping and cussing. Then, there was a plop, clanging of metal on metal, weeping and more sniffling.

The door was completely open, so I peered in. My hand was ready to shoot up and cover m eyes if he demanded privacy.

Leo was working on what looked like the sphere: He was inserting fingers into its hollow shape and making diagrams on a paper to his left. He hadn't noticed me yet.

"Hello, Leo." I said.

Immediately his hand went for a glass tumbler to his right, and gripping it, he threw the maroon liquid inside it over me. All of that happened in a split of a second.

I gasped, and reeled backward. I wiped my eyes, and stared at him. I was more stunned than angry. I could smell root-beer, and I knew what the liquid was then.

"Oh my gosh!" He said, astounded "Sorry, Preethi... I—"

"It's okay." I said, although it was clearly not okay. I felt trounced. "Uh, are _you_... okay."

"Well...I... Uh—Su-sure." He stuttered. Obviously, I didn't believe him. I heard him crying, and as evidence, his eyes were bloodshot and watery.

But I didn't say anything. I just shrugged and went. "Well, okay. I just heard some strange noises, so I waned to check on—"

"I'm fine!" He almost snapped at me there, but then he took a shaky breath and forced one of his jester grins. It was unconvincing and pathetic. "Okay Preethi, see you tomorrow!"

"Mhm, but —"

Before I could finish, he got up and slammed the door in my face.

So yeah, here I am now, watching the giant statue dangling from the ship sway lightly as the ship lurched forward. I sighed. Leo had his priorities sorted out, but he was taking them much too seriously. That was why he was always moody, like Hazel had said.

As far as I knew, Leo wasn't even close to being the moody type. But maybe, this search for Percy and Annabeth and him thinking that it was all his mistake made him that way. He was simply stressing himself too much, which even a demigod who can summon fire shouldn't be doing.

I cuddled on the blanket, watching the stalls absently. It had been a long day, and I was surely tired. I still had many questions: Where was my father if Nemesis was my mother? Was Nemesis really a powerful god? Did I have any powers, like these other demigods do?

But the biggest question I had, and the most intimidating one of all them was: Will I ever fit in?

Because, I've never fit in with anyone. It was probably because I have been mingling with the wrong kind—The mortals— ever since I was born. But even here, with my supposedly own kind, I felt like I was an outsider. What if I had to tell them about Nila, and how I had caused her insufferable pain? Will they shunt me? I mean, they are demigods who risk their lives and fight bad people like Gaia and whatnot. If they found out that I had used my powers for my own revenge, they will be extremely disgusted.

But then again, revenge is one of those few sinful things in the world that one takes for his or her own happiness.

With that, I closed my eyes. And with that, I slept.


	5. Percy

**Note from author: Okay, before I begin, SURPRISE, SURPRISE! This chapter is going to be Percabeth, set in Tartarus. There will be fluff, don't you worry. But mostly, I'm aiming to write drollness and a cliffhanger in the end. This will be a long chapter (More than 2500 words), because this isn't a filler, it's part of the story. **

**You will be seeing more Percabeth set in Tartarus chapters as you read. Hope you enjoy! :) **

* * *

_Percy_

Grey. Stormy grey. A Beautiful shade of grey, the color of a lovely girl's eyes. That was all he saw.

He wasn't in worry, neither was he stressed. For Percy hadn't seen _anything_ other than her eyes. He didn't understand the fact that they had been falling down this pit for a continuous week. He hadn't found out where they were, or why they hadn't landed on solid ground yet. Heck, he hadn't noticed that there was serious, serious trouble ahead of him. He had only seen one thing so far: Her eyes.

Annabeth was smiling, her hand slightly placed under his chin. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she leaned forward and kissed him. This was what _she_ had been doing for a week. Kissing, smiling, and hugging.

Percy tightened his grip around Annabeth's hands. He rejoiced, feeling completely enlightened. It was like he was in a truly enchanted place, a mesmerizing spot for love and affection. He hadn't noticed where he was really. He was falling, falling down. Probably for the rest of his life, he would be falling. He wasn't rising. Rising winningly with Annabeth, he wasn't.

But sadly, his week of love and affection went down the drain as soon as the florescent light shone from below, highlighting Percy's hair in a blue light. His eyes were suddenly droopy, and they closed, all too abruptly.

When they opened, he was sprawled over a rocky surface. He felt Annabeth's hand still in his. But the area was dark, and he couldn't see her. He could only feel her.

All the absurdity hit him then. He was in Tartarus, and he had finally hit the ground. It was cold, dark and gloomy. Nothing of the scary sort had appeared in on them yet, but he felt the place daunting him. He had to stay put.

He turned over, and shook Annabeth's hand, "Annabeth? Annabeth, wake up."

"Ugh," She monaed, rolling and sitting up straight. Her grey eyes were the only things visible of her. "What, Percy, where are—" Her voice muted, and then she spoke, in a trembling voice," Oh gods, Percy. You don't—"

"Yeah, Annabeth." He said, squeezing her hand. " Don't worry, I—"

"Don't worry?!" she asked, her voice quivering more than ever "Percy, we have to worry if we want to get back to our friends."

What Nico had said previously clicked in his brain then. They had to close the Doors of Death from this side too!

"Don't worry about getting back to our friends now." Percy said, although his voice was shaking as badly as hers. "We are going to get back to our friends, with no worries, okay? Now, all I want you to worry about is getting me info about Tartarus. We have a job to finish in Tartarus."

"What job? What do you—"

"Annabeth. Do as I say. I'll explain everything in detail once we figure out what to do." Percy took a deep breath, and continued. "I can already sense danger. We have to keep moving, Annabeth. I agree that you're way smarter than me and all, but this time, I know some kick-butt news that we can really use."

Annabeth sighed bitterly, but she squeezed Percy's hand back in agreement. They kept their quiet as Annabeth thought. After a minute, she spoke, "Tartarus, Percy, is an abyss, a hell of pure darkness and an eternity of gloom. The uncontrollable and the unlawful are thrown in here. Basically, you can call it a dungeon of torture for the Primordial beings who have gone way beyond their limits. Some of them are the Titans, the Hekatonchires— We commonly know them as the Hundred-Handed-Ones— the cyclopes and the giants. Ouranos has thrown his own children down Tartarus because of the fear of his throne being usurped. Tartarus was used to torture those who troubled the Gods of Olympus"

"Right." Percy said. "Anything else."

"One more thing. I'm not sure whether this is true, because I've never seen him before. But—I think Tartarus is personified. I think he lives here, in human form. As a God."

"As a God." Percy repeated. "You're saying Tartarus is actually a God"

"I think so. Not many believe in this, because not many have been to Tartarus and returned back from it."

"Mm. So what? We're supposed to defeat him? He's on our side?"

"I'm not sure Percy. I'm not even sure he exists."

Percy expected to hear Tartarus's voice pop out of nowhere and speak to them, like the other times they mentioned the names mythical beings. But nothing of that sort happened.

Percy licked his lips. It was certainly dry down here. "Nico told me that there are two sides to the Doors of Death. One's out in the mortal world, and the other here. I'm hoping the others can take care of the mortal side, which is in Epirus, Greece... Some temple called the House of Hades, to be exact. We have to concentrate on the one down here."

"Oh!" Annabeth sounded surprised, which rarely ever occurs. "But, we're only two of us! There will be too many obstacles—"

"We need to find some people down here who can help us. I mean, I'm guessing all the people in Tartarus aren't monsters, and people that want to kill us."

"People who don't want to kill us?" Annabeth asked, her body tensed. "Well, that's going to be hard to find." Drawing her hand out of Percy's, she said, "And as for the Doors of Death, our side is probably in the Charonium cave. It was a place in Ancient Greece and an entrance to Tartarus, but now, as far as I know, the cave's still there, but it's hidden from the mortals. The cave... It is a really scary place, occupied once by Aornum, the oracle. We... we have to find this Charonium, close the gates and... will we be able to get out after that?"

"There has got to be a way." Percy said, standing up. He wasn't sure. Actually, he was less than sure. He was petrified. He reached inside his pocket and brought Riptide out, uncapped it and shined it. Helping Annabeth to her feet, he looked around the chamber. Small holes emitting florescent radiation covered the walls, although they weren't enough to light up the whole cavern. There were weird rock formations all over the place, and a chandelier tinkled above their heads. Straight ahead of them was a gate with a skull attached to it's thick grills. Percy almost trampled on Annabeth's Bubble Wrap cast. Her leg was broken severely.

"You're leg. It's okay, Annabeth?"

"Yeah. Better than how it'd felt before."

Percy huffed and turned towards the gate. He moved leisurely helping Annabeth walk beside him. He placed his arm on the grilled doorway, and it automatically threw open. Percy walked inside, but before he could have second thoughts, the gate closed behind them. He wasn't too surprised, although they were now inside a longer tunnel with muck and dust and the only source of light was the flash of Riptide's glow. "I knew this would happen." Percy said as calmly as he could. "But I'm guessing this is the right way."

He kept marching forward, with a rather fearful Annabeth clinging to him. The tunnel extended onward and looped about randomly. It seemed to go on forever. There were eventual screams and clattering heard from a considerable distance, but Percy didn't really put his mind on it. He only thought about Gaia, and how much he wanted to give her a teaching lesson. He was going to make her pay for all of this.

There were green goo all over the walls, which Percy hoped was just some kind of underground parasite. He didn't want to know. Cobwebs covered the areas further on, and he slashed his way through them. Annabeth nudged his arm suddenly, and when he turned, he found her looking at him all helplessly. "Percy, I'm sorry if I'm just more trouble for you. I should be on my own now, but—"

He was taken aback. Percy had never seen Annabeth talk this way; She was the one who always saved his rump from trouble. She was brave and courageous, sometimes even more than Percy himself. He couldn't gather the fact that she was feeling lowly and useless.

"Yes Annabeth, you are trouble." Percy said, flicking at Annabeth's forehead mockingly. " But you are _my_ trouble. So come on, and don't fuss, Owl Head."

Annabeth didn't respond. She just trudged, her fingers netting into his. After walking a few more meters, Percy came across a similar gate like the one on the other side. I tapped it, and it too flung open. Except this side of the chamber was the most atrocious place Percy had ever seen.

The whole scene was fuzzy and hazed as if it were a mirage, making things even more crazed. Flanked on either ends were large cages, each large enough to hold three griffins. There were a few dozen men in each of the cages, along with a handful of monsters, all half-dressed and bloody. A few of them were garbed in loose doilies. They wielded maces, whips, swords and blazing torches, slashing at the injured ones. They opened gashes on bare skin, and burnt the flesh of the screaming crowd. It was torture in action.

It didn't end there, however. Monsters prowled around the room. They were happy, cheerful and having fun. Some of them were dancing, and others were holding barrels of red semi-fluid. Percy spotted three furies in one corner, clashing bottles and drinking some frothy liquid. On the far end of the room, a poster made out of webs glistened. The woven letters read, '**_Monsters' lair'_**

The gate behind Percy and Annabeth was already closing. Speedily, Percy slipped through the gap, grabbing Annabeth along with him. They were back in the same tunnel they came from.

Annabeth gasped and winced. "Percy! What was that for?"

"We can't get past the monsters just like that!" Percy hissed. "We need a strategy!"

"I'm the one who usually comes up with the strategy!" Annabeth exclaimed. "And this time, you did?"

"No! I didn't!" Percy said, pressing his eyes closed. "I need you to come up with it Annabeth!"

"Oh." Annabeth went. It was probably because of her leg and the stress and all, but she wasn't being herself lately today.

"Annabeth. Calm down." Percy said, massaging her hand. "You're taking all this into your brain too much. Just relax."

"But how?" Annabeth shrieked, her voice boomeranging off the walls. "Percy, I'm tired! I'm tired of this! First, you went missing. Then I had this whole Mark of Athena thing. And now, we are in Tartarus. Oh Percy, what if— what if you get hurt? What if we're separated again?"

"Annabeth. Nothing of that sort will happen. I'm here for you."

Percy feared whether Annabeth was losing it. Nico had been dragged into Tartarus as well, and when Percy had seen him, he'd looked like something had fragmented inside him. Maybe Tartarus was a place that could drive people mad all by itself.

"Okay Annabeth. Come up with an idea."

Annabeth desperately looked around. Her eyes fluttered from one spot to another, and they finally fixed on the green muck on the wall. "There. Why don't we—?"

"Uh, Annabeth?" I asked, baffled. "What if that thing kills?"

"We'll have to hope it doesn't" Her voice was now back to the same commanding Annabeth voice. "Come."

Percy shrugged and reluctantly scooped up the green glop. "So what?" He asked. "Am I supposed to spread it over my clothes, or...?"

"Yes, on top of your clothes!" Annabeth lashed. "What disgusting thought crossed your mind now, Seaweed Brain?"

Percy smiled assuredly. Annabeth was back to normal. She was gaining self-reliance again.

He spread the green substance over his camp shirt and pants. He applied some on his face, which made his skin feel itchy and prickling. Coating some over his black hair, he scraped some more off the walls and helped Annabeth cover herself in the material. Then, he faced the gate and thumped it leniently once more.

Once inside the Monsters' Liar, they moved freely, trying to mingle with the beasts. One particular dancing manticore bumped into them.

"Hey...!" It said, slowly halting it's spin. "Aren't you both...?"

Percy gulped. He only then remembered that monsters could smell demigods.

"Aren't you both new!" The manticore squealed. Percy looked at it all weirdly. He actually _squealed_. Percy gazed into the manticore's eyes, and he found out that it was red. He was probably drunk.

"Come on, guys!" he said, placing his palms on Percy and Annabeth's sticky backs and urging them away from the other monsters. Annabeth was yelping as she limped. Percy wished he had ambrosia or nectar with him, so that he could feed some to her. She was making him worried.

The manticore had made them trudge towards the three furies. His hands were still pressed against Percy's spine, which made him shiver. What if the creature impetuously plunges it's talons into their chords?

The manticore took his hand's off their backs, however, and he turned them around to face him. He was grinning insanely, and Percy noticed he looked nothing like Dr. Thorn, the first and only manticore they'd come across. He had flat red hair that stuck to his face and scalp. Small curvy screw-like horns twisted from up his head. His hands were covered in coarse hair. He wore a green justacorps jacket with detailed designs and skintight leather pants. His eyes were red, and two of his teeth protruded from his upper lip. He was still in human form.

"Meet my friends!" He said, forcing us to face the furies again. Annabeth bit her lip, her face beaded with sweat. She was exerting her leg too much.

"This is Miffy, Jiffy, and Biffy!" He said, gesturing at each fury. They smiled waywardly at the two demigods. Percy exchanged glances with Annabeth. They were in a sticky situation.

"The only existing furies are the Three Furies, right?" Annabeth blurted, after bumping Percy on the shoulder, trying to forewarn him.

"They are _the_ furies, yes." Miffy said. "But, mind, the population has increased. We're now twelve furies in all!" She laughed like that was an evil achievement of some sort.

The furies looked similar, except Miffy's hair was maroon, Jiffy's hair was jade, and Biffy's hair was blue. They all had yellow eyes and they wore identical knee length tops that read, 'Wannabe the Tri-Fires!' with a heart next to it. Their skin was a light shade of grey , with a leathery texture. They weren't in complete fury form—Percy would have run away if they had materialized into their form. Furies were hellish enough to make one avert his eyes— but their bat wings were extended, flapping breezily. Biffy chuckled and did some kind of sexy dance, shimmying while fluttering her flappers seductively. They were drunk, all right.

"Why, cheerio!", squeaked Jiffy excitedly, "Or was that hello?!"

"Last time I checked, it was, like, 'sup!" Miffy said bossily.

"Yeah, I think 'sup will do." Biffy said, stopping with her gyration.

"Hm, so you new?"

"Clearly, they are...!"

"D'oh, my bad."

"You guys look green!"

"My hair's green!"

"Guys, guys!" Percy said, trying to sound monster-like. "Uh... Yes. We're new. We are a new variety of monsters, created from the essence of Tartarus—"

"Essence of Tartarus?" Jiffy piped in.

"He means the green stuff that grows on the wall, silly. He's created from it!" Miffy said.

"That is so, like, icky!" Biffy went.

Percy puffed, exacerbated. These furies were worse than the nymphs.

"Biffy, you're mean!" The manticore wailed. "You were mean to me the first time I was here too!"

"Bah! I'm not happy-go-lucky like Jiffy, or snobby like Miffy. I'm mean and sporty. You gotta deal with it." Biffy retorted.

"Guys, we're talking!" Annabeth said heavily.

"Oh right."

"Okay, we were created from the essence of Tartarus, how, even I'm not sure." Percy put in, dramatically. "Just a few months back... we rose from the greens, and we took off. We have been circling this pit this darn pit called Tartarus, ever since. So if you could please give us a quick idea of Tartarus, we would be more than happy!"

Percy had said that because he needed the directions critically. He knew that Tartarus was huge, and if Annabeth and he ever got lost in here, it might at least come to some help.

"Oh well. To begin with," Miffy said, in the same nasal and stuck up voice she had. "This is a pub."

"It's a what?"

"A pub. A bar. It's the only fun place in Tartarus."

Percy scrunched his eyes up. The haze suddenly dissipated, and Percy could see the real view.

The cages actually turned out to be stages. The gory people were still gory, but now they were doing the chicken dance on the stage. Whips still belted around them, trying to hit them. Knifes sank into the ground were they had just stood, but since they were jumping around, the persecutors didn't have enough precision to hurt them. A huge discotheque ball flopped around and emitted color, and the monsters were even more hyper than before. On the other corner of the area, a bartender minotaur passed out more bubbly drinks and iced them over. On another far end, Percy could spot a hippalectryon and a harpy— The harpy was huger than many others Percy had come across— kissing and huddling up close.

"So... uh... this is what you do in Tartarus? Get locked up for eternal fun?" Annabeth asked, scratching the back of her neck.

"Oh, puh-leeze!" Jiffy said, waving her hand around. "Like Miffy said, this is the _only_ fun place in Tartarus." she grinned. "If you ever go to Tartarus's courtroom, you'll die!" She started laughing hysterically, banging her bottle of fluid against the bedrock. The debris flew everywhere, and Percy vaulted backward along with Annabeth. The manticore shrugged and took a step back along. The furies giggled, and Jiffy peeped. "Sowwy p-pull! Jus vewy hypah, moi!"

"I'll be back." Said the manticore. "I feel sick. I'll go get a Sobeer, 'kay?" He walked off to the bar and consulted the bartender.

"What's a Sobeer?" Percy asked.

"It's nothing. Just a beer that sobers you up." Biffy explained. "At Monsters' Liar, we have drinks that are so strong, they could get you going batty for a whole century. Like, for instance, our manticore friend Pat there, he had twelve barrels of golden icor. I'm surprised he hasn't gone mad yet, but the thing made him go sick only now. So, just to sober up and to get the illness out of his body, he's having Sobeer, the soberness beer."

Annabeth whistled, and Percy went. "He had icor? The blood of the Gods?"

"Mhm! It actually tastes good, somewhat like dog juice!" Miffy said.

Percy decided to get the thought out of his brain. "So, where is this courtroom of Tartarus?"

"Ah... You'll find it eventually! You know, Tartarus doesn't go on forever!" Biffy said, crankily.

"It doesn't?" Annabeth asked.

"No!" Biffy snapped. "How can it? Tartarus is on earth. It only goes as far as, like, the earth's extension!"

"Okay! I get it!" Annabeth lashed back.

"But the gates!"said Percy, " They open from outside, but once we go through it, it closes shut behind us. How come?"

"What do you mean?" Miffy askes, her eyes narrowing. "That never happens to monsters. It only happens to mortals and the demigods."

"Uh..." Percy scanned his mind for an excuse.

"Probably because we are only a month old." Annabeth said speedily, trying to cover it up. "Maybe underage monsters don't get to go in any path they like. Maybe they can only travel in one direction through Tartarus: Straight. Straight through the gate, and they can never turn back."

"Maybe. Because all monsters and demigods have to check in with Tartarus before roaming around." said Biffy, slightly unconvinced. "I don't know. We three got locked up in here by Hades. We weren't created in Tartarus, like you guys."

"Hades." Percy put in. After a pause, he aske0d. "Why him? Why did he put you in here?"

"Well." Jiffy said, her smile vanishing. "We kept going to the Underworld to see the Three Furies. WE'RE, LIKE,HUGE FANS! We love their, like,attitude and...and everything! We call them the Tri-Fires. So, during one of those visits, we ended up in, like, Hades's throne-room on accident. The throne seemed, like, Gothic and...and very alluring. I don't know why, but... Death's powerful. And the throne radiated so much power. At that point in time, I felt like I wanted to control it."

"Then, we three started fighting to, like, sit on it." Miffy continued. "At last, Biffy pushed us all down, and sat on the throne. We got up and tried to push her off of it, but just then, Hades entered with ,like, Persephone beside him. He raged, and look where _that_ got us."

"We hate Hades, and the rest of the Gods." Biffy put in. "We had to, like, endure a millennium of horrid torture. Then..." Her mouth twisted in a ghastly smile, her two front teeth pointed. "Then, Gaia came by. She released all the monsters and demigods on her side, and locked the rest of them up." She beckoned towards the cages with the dancing people. "They're all of 'em. They disobeyed Gaia, and now they're _entertaining_ us!"

Percy's eyes widened. Annabeth's hand curled around his. She was Gaia's minion.

"Gaia warned us about two demigods that had fallen into Taratrus. Percypuff and Annababe, I think their names were. She told us to squish them like a bug, but not to kill them!" Jiffy said, cheerfully.

Annabeth gulped. Percy could feel her hand writhing around his. "Uh... Well. Nice meeting you, then."

"Yeah." Percy said, chuckling roughly. "We, uh gotta go— _whoa_!"

The manticore Pat had waltz towards Percy, tripped and had spilled his Sobeer all over him. The green stuff dissolved, revealing a very clean Percy in his jeans and camp t-shirt.

The furies gasped. The gasps soon turned into hisses. They started batting their wings as they rose from the ground. Percy backed away, still holding Annabeth's arm. Gust and soot blew around the furies, and their large wings swept the sand. The cloud of rubble pricked Percy's face and eyes. Percy coughed, thrown into a fit. He fell to the floor, loosing his grip on Annabeth's arm, trying to scoot backward still.

Annabeth screamed. When Percy opened his eyes, he found Annabeth dangling from Biffy's palm, as her claws clasped around Annabeth's neck. Percy struggled to stand up, but Miffy and Jiffy were levitating above him, casting their canopy-like shadows over him. They hadn't changed forms, but they looked as hideous as ever.

"You!" Jiffy growled, in a not-so-Jiffy like way. "You must be Percypuff. And that must be Annababy!"

Percy scowled, and spat out the sand from his mouth. "You figured?" He said in probably jeering way, although he felt frail and not very scornful. " That took you time!"

"You idiot!" Miffy screeched. "Much too brash, are you now? You're in our territory! You'll be smashed by us in a minute or two, now you wait!"

Biffy was digging her claws into Annabeth's throat. Percy tried to stand up, shout, help her out. But he couldn't. There wasn't water here either for him to control, and all the drinks these creatures drunk were liquids without water in them.  
Percy felt the helplessness entering him like fever. He couldn't let Annabeth get hurt. Not now, not ever.

Just then, Pat charged. He shoved Miffy and Jiffy back, and knocked Biffy back, saving Annabeth just in time.

Annabeth heaved, her hair covering her face like a curtain of sheeny blonde. The manticore shook his head at the three furies, who were now spread-eagle over the floor.

The pub was still in it's jolly mood, not noticing what was happening to the side. The manticore scrunched his face in disgust. "I was getting another goblet of Sobeer, and _this_ is what you three do? Kill demigods?"

"But they...are demigods...Gaia wanted!" Biffy puffed.

"Gaia." Pat mused. "Oh, Gaia! I don't give a glob of Daemon excrete for her." He was stern and clear, and Percy theorized that he was ofcially sober.

"I thought you were in Gaia's army!" Jiffy squeaked.

"No!" Pat exclaimed, eyes dilating. "When did I say that?"

"That day... When we asked for directions to the courtroom!" Miffy spoke. "You said—"

"I said 'I am gay'!" He tiffed. "No...I mean not gay. But gay... like you know, happy! I was drunk. You shouldn't have asked me." Then sighing, he went. "I thought you were my friends, Miffy, Jiffy and Biffy. I love demigods! I've always wanted a demigod friend!"

"You _love_ demigods?" Biffy said, her eye twitching. All three of them were crippled on the floor. Pat had beat them, hard. "I thought you were our friends too. But apparently you weren't"

"I'm not." Pat confirmed. " And now, I'm going to help these two sweet demigods..." He helped Percy and Annabeth up. "Leave this Gods forsaken pub."

Percy heard the furies scrape the floor, gnarling. They rushed to the gateway they have to go through. Pat tapped the gate, and it flew open. They rushed into the darkness, Pat still at their heels.

Percy was surprised with Pat. He enumerated the fact that Pat, a monster, who could have well been off in Gaia's army, was still sticking around and rescuing poor demigods trapped in Tartarus. He put the 'Pat Problem' away to solve later, and concentrated on safely getting Annabeth and himself out of the furies' reaches.

He heard the beating of wings and snarls from behind. The furies had regained their strengths, and they were heading towards them now.

A rock formation to the side loomed above them. The manticore pushed Percy and Annabeth behind it, to camouflage them from the beasts. After a moment of breath-held stillness, Percy heard the furies' wings and they murmurs. A squeak the mostly might've belonged to Jiffy echoed through the cavern. Then, there was the blackout and disturbing noiselessness again.

Percy calmed down. He thought that the furies and left. His hand wrapped around Annabeth's shoulders, who let out a sob of sorrow.

Unexpectedly and drastically, a shoot of pain plummeted down the middle of his scalp. He dropped to his knees. His whole body got numb, and his vision turned a light shade of lime. He heard a male voice shout, and some female quacks He could feel hands working on his head, but he didn't know who it was.

The pain was blinding, actually, even more than blinding. It was mortifying and torturous. He was forgetting things, forgetting that he had forgotten things before too, forgetting who he was, where he was, what he was. He was dying.

But he knew a thing. A single thing. He shouldn't succumb to death. Not yet. Not this time.

* * *

**That is the end!** **Hoped you liked the cliffhanger!**

**Readers, I'm sorry if I ended this in a cliffhanger! But I found this interesting. To find out what happened to Percy, well... You all have to wait for another two chapters :) What happened to Percy is quite easy to figure, but it is really terrible and dangerous (To Percy and to our hearts D:)**

**The next Percabeth chapter is in Annabeth's point of view, and there is going to be some seriously violent scenes. So brace yourselves! **

**Hoped you enjoyed! I'm not getting much reviews, so please review! I need a lot of reviews on how good this story is coming out. Please, Please, PLEASE REVIEW! :)**

**Thanks! Enjoy!**


	6. We get attacked by the Indian Air Force

**Okay, Leo was in a mood-out the chapter before the last, and I know, I kinda changed his whole character, but hey, everyone gets depressed at times, right? xD (Don't get mad at me! -Cowers in fear-)**

**Well anyway, I'm not getting the reception( Reviews and views) I need from my fellow readers. So, please, please, please read and keep courage! Don't give up hope on me!  
**

**This is a Preethi [O.C] Chapter, and so will the next chapter be. These chapters will be shorter than the previous one (4920 words! -Gasps and faints in unbelievable surprise-) So don't worry. You'll get to the Percabeth soon!**

**Until then, stay tuned and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer:[I do not own the Indian Air force (Obviously, the government owns it x3) And any of the jets or ammo they use. Let's just say I don't own anything other than the plot of this chapter and my O.C .]**

**P&S**

* * *

**We get attacked by the Indian Air Force:**

I woke up on the blanket to Piper screaming, "Where is my water?!"

Hazel was scampering into the stable just as I rubbed my eyes and sat up, "Oh, there you are!" She said, sitting down next to me. "We've been looking for you!"

"Oh, good morning Hazel." I said. "What's the time?"

"Around 6:30 in the morning."

"Ah." I straightened my skirt, which had gotten hitched up over my knees. I stretched and sat. "So, what are we doing today? Fighting a dragon?"

"Dragons?" Hazel asked, confused. "No. We've not been attacked yet so far."

Hazel looked as cute as usual. Her curly hair was flying around her shoulder, and her golden eyes sparkling with it's usual kick. If I ever had a younger sister, it would be Hazel, although, well, I'm only approximately one and a half years older than her.

"Needs a pipework repair. the _Argo_." Hazel said. "Leo's trying to fix it, Coach's helping. But Piper's really angry, because she's just now put her shampoo on." She giggled. "Poor Piper."

I smiled. "That happens to me all the time. India's water supply is limited."

Hazel nodded. "Why did you sleep here?"

"Hm. I was thinking of something, and then I just dozed off."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Well, about yesterday." I said, shrugging. "This is really hard for me to take in, you know? And also— And also the way Leo behaved. I don't know him, but I can tell he is the joker of you're crew.

Hazel gulped. "Leo." She said. "I don't know much about him either, we've known each other for only a bunch of weeks now. I only knew his— Never mind."

"What?"

"Oh yes. I should tell everyone on the crew, shouldn't I? Here goes." Hazel sighed. "Preethi, you might not understand this. I was dead, but then I came back alive. So... so I know Leo's great grandfather. I'm actually more than seventy years old."

"What?!"

"Yeah I know. Shocking, right?"

"So, you were dead. And then you cheated death, And then you came back to life. So you were friends with Leo's great grandfather during those days?" I asked.

"Exactly."

"So you're actually more than thirteen years old?"

"Well, since I cheated death when I was thirteen, I'm still thirteen. But if I had lived without dying, then I would've been seventy something."

"Wow. Brain overload." I said, massaging the tender part of my head.

"Same thing goes to Nico. He's experienced something similar. If you ever see a hotel named Lotus, don't go into it."

"Uh, okay?"

Hazel inclined her head. "So I do kind of know Leo. I mean, Sammy—Leo's great grandpa— and Leo are really similar. So... yeah. It was hard for me to believe myself."

Her face was blushing, as if she was talking about something or someone she admired. I had a feeling this Sammy had really occupied a place in her head.

"Well, why don't we go eat something?" Hazel said, to change the subject.

"Sure. Why not?"

We promenaded to the mess hall, where sat Frank and Jason. From above deck, I heard Coach Hedge whistling and the creaking of the foot board underneath him. Nico was nowhere to be found. Piper was still taking a shower. There was no sign of Leo, either.

I greeted them as I sat. Frank's plate was clean, and so was Jason's. I wasn't really hungry, so I just summoned some water and drank it."

Hazel called for two creamed blueberry bagels. She didn't dig in right away.

Frank and Jason were in the middle of a conversation. Once they were done talking, Frank said to me. "We're going to Greece, Preethi. Now that we are somewhere above this place called Madurai— That's what Leo told Jason this morning, anyway— we'll be at Kerala in some hours."

"Why do we have to cross Kerala?"

"Well," Jason went. "We have some trouble up by the northern side of India. I think that place above Kerala, what is it called? Kar —Karti—?"

"Karnataka." I rectified.

"Yes, that. That is the territory of a giant Leo told us to stay away from. Pallas. She's awake now."

"Pallas who?"

"She's the giant that Athena killed in war, and turned her skin into Aegis, a scary shield that can pretty much scare anything. My sister owns the shield. She is a 'she' giant, but I don't think we can underestimate her for that reason. She could be stronger than the others."

"Why are we heading to Greece again?"

"It's complicated, Preethi." Hazel said. "You'll understand when you get there yourself. We—"

"Percy's dying!" Nico yelled.

All of our heads turned towards him. He had just kicked the door open. He was panting, and his Gothic clothes clung to his scrawny chest with sweat.

"Percy's dying." He repeated, coming over and sitting by next to us. "I don't know how, but he is in _grave_ danger. And I mean _grave_. I think something attacked him. Annabeth's fine, but... but Percy's leaving us."

"What?!" Jason exclaimed, banging a fist on the table.

"Yeah." Nico said, breathing sharply. "I can't do anything about it. _We _can't. We have no control over Tartarus. We can only sit and worry."

Frank seemed pale. Hazel let out a small scream. Jason bit his lip, turning his scar into a line of rippling skin.

Piper came in, toweling her hair and cocking her head from side to side. She wore a crisp 'Camp Half-Blood' T-shirt with a black skirt. Her hair was wet and stringy, but it looked hot all by itself.

She sat down next to Jason, squeezed his hand and went. "What's the news?"

"Percy..." Hazel said in a barely inaudible voice. "He's dying."

"You mean..." Piper's face went slack.

Jason curtained his hand over Piper's shoulder to comfort her. She ogled around, disbelievingly.

Frank balled his palm. "That's it. Telling Coach to set on towards Greece faster. We're going to own this dirt-faced bobble-brain."

"Well told, Frank." Nico said, pessimistically. "Well told."

"The Gods aren't seeming to care. AT ALL!" Piper shouted. "They want us to do this all by ourselves! I haven't heard from _any_ of them, not even that coquettish love-skull." Then, after a while, she grumbled. "Sorry, _mom_."

"Is it the bedlam inside their head?" Nico asked. "I mean, them switching from Roman to Greek?"

"That doesn't mean they can totally ignore us!" Jason said, haughtily. "They haven't reacted to Percy and Annabeth falling, _nothing_! What the fumbling fajita?"

"Fumbling fajita?" I spewed.

All the three boys glowered at me. "Not the time." Jason grumbled, flicking his index finger at an imaginary watch.

"Frank, you go do that." Nico said. "Go tell Hedge—"

That's when the first bomb hit the ship. There was harmful turbulence which lead to my chair toppling and me falling badly against the metal flooring. There were screams and grunts all around the room, and for a second I really just wanted to pass out right there.

But I changed my mind, stood up to solely slide and hit the floor all over again. The whole ship tilted sideways. Jason was holding Piper's hand and grasping onto the ledge. Frank and Hazel were huddled on the side facing upwards, Frank holding Hazel's head close to his chest.

Nico clung onto the doorknob, shaking it with gritted teeth. I skid and grappled for my life on the leg of a standing chair.

I was wondering how Coach was doing, and whether Leo was still alive.

Nico finally managed to open the door, and with endeavoring energy, we got up and rushed into Jason's cabin, which was opposite to the door.

I heard muffles from outside and soon a grubby and soiled Leo burst through the door.

"Shoot, the Indian Air force is firing at us."

There was breeziness until Jason said, "We can't fire the ballistae. We'll have to persuade them. Their mortals."

A second bomb shook the _Argo_, sending a tremor through the hull big enough to make a pilot go airsick.

"How on earth—?" Frank started to ask, but calmed down when Piper volunteered. Jason shook his head, "Piper, you can't do this alone. We'll help."

"I'll go hoist the white flag." Leo said before hurrying off again.

"Frank" I called. "Can't you turn into a bullhorn or something?"

"No." Frank said, scowling. Sparks shot up from the floor and the edges of the wall. Something had malfunctioned.

"I'll go get one from Leo's—"

"I'll do _that_!" Frank puffed, the putrid expression still on his face. He marched unsteadily out of the door, as much as you can march in a diverged airship.

Another round of missiles were shot and the whole place jerked. This time, Jason's cabin exploded and a huge hole gaped open in the center-point of the room. The ceiling was gone, revealing the mundane blue sky and the floor was thrown apart, displaying the forests and shrubby woods below. Pieces of shrapnel flew. One established itself in my calf, while the other somewhere on the back of my neck. I cried with pain, resisting the goad to touch the pieces and drive them further down through my flesh.

I pressed my eyes shut and counted till ten and back to one. When I opened my eyes, I found Piper shrieking hysterically as she seized the remaining floor to keep herself from free-falling. Jason was squatting, trying to yank her back up. Hazel and Nico were helping as much as possible, trying to pin Jason's legs down to give his body equivalence.

The ship was too big, so it didn't dip all at once when the hole blew up, but it was slowly losing altitude. I rushed up to Jason, helping him yank Piper back onto her legs. I pulled with all my might at Piper's palm, which knotted around my hand like a lasso. With Hazel fastening my leg and Nico holding Jason's, we soon succeeded and brought Piper safely on the deck, excepting a few chips of wood that had hurt her. We jumped over the broad space with the help of Jason and reached for the door. Nico opened it again,and we rushed out. Soon we lost our smoothness, and we rolled down the stairs roughly and landed on the lower deck. The ship was now rumbling from side to side, and when we got to the open railing of the _Argo II_, the sight was heart-wrenching.

Five to ten well-armored vehicles hovered around our ship. Three of them were Sukhoi-30MKls, armed with Kh-31A missiles. A drone buzzed towards the _Argo_ like a giant hornet, unmanned and maneuvered technologically. One HAL Tejas, the one and _only _HAL Tejas, readied into Fighter Jet position. Four other interceptors from the Soviet Union called the Mikoyan constantly bombarded us with their powerful weapons. A humongous HAL Rudra propelled around and around. The missiles were being set, and it was only a matter of time before we lost the fight.

I grasped the railing, staring at the whole thing with awe. I didn't have time to admire it, however. Frank had turned into a bird, with bulky legs that could be held onto. He swooped down and slipped his legs into Hazel's open arms and veered towards the ground. Soon, he came back up, took a befuddled looking Piper and boarded her onto the Tejas. I spotted Leo through a window in the Tejas, talking with irate to a group of people on it. I concluded that Coach was still controlling the ship. Frank took Nico and dropped him off somewhere on the ground with Hazel, and when it was my turn, I quickly spoke, "I want to get on the Tejas. I want to help them. I need to. I'm Indian, I can translate or something."

Frank flitted his wings impatiently, but agreed. He told Jason to do the manning because Coach had to play a part in this proposal too.

Soon, I was dangling from Frank's limbs. He slipped me into the Tejas with ease, and flapped away. Coach landed behind me, looking shaken up but also really, really high. He swung his club, barely missing my head and cried. "Die!"

I didn't get him, at all.

When I got to the middle if the jet, I saw a man pushing Leo backward. He fell to the floor, but simply got back up and went on arguing. Piper was trying to break them apart. Things got slightly out of hand when the man spat at them and Leo drew a giant hammer from his belt.

Piper yelled. "Will you two stop!" Both of them froze in their tracks.

"Look, what Leo's saying is true." Piper told, her voice turning sweet. "This is a private blimp, the _Argo II_ for our personal uses." She turned to spot me and Coach. She grabbed a mesmerized Coach Hedge and shoved him forward. "See? He's our chaperon and driver!"

The man looked wildly around them. Then he smiled officially and spoke in fluent English, "Oh! We didn't know that! I'll command a retreat."

Another man came up behind him. He looked steamed and with crazed strength, he grabbed hold of the man who had been charm-spoken. "Gupta! Gupta! Wake up! These kids have done something to you!"

Gupta seemed to be coming to his senses. "Uh...Blugh?"

"Look!" He said, pointing at the creaking _Argo II_ outside. "That is an unauthorized plane hijacked from the airport. A group of kids had been reported there as well! And look... here they are! Coincidence? I do not think so."

But Coach waved at the air. For a moment, I saw the _Argo_ had transformed into a blimp. Blinking, I found out that it was a smooth trick of the Mist, which Hazel had talked about yesterday. "Voila!" Coach said. "There! See? It _is_ a blimp!"

"But... But!" The man stammered, his pointer finger jittery "I just saw the plane! The _Indian Airlines'_ plane! That's why we came to harm the plane temporarily and arrest you all... But... How is it a blimp now?"

"Have you ever heard of eye checkup?" Leo said, playing along. "Now, shoo. Go retreat."

"Go!" Piper instructed.

The two men nodded and went to the cockpit. A while later, all the other machinery had taken away, and the two men returned. They looked unconvinced, but with another command from Piper, they said. "You may leave in peace."

* * *

We anchored the _Argo_ down below ground, in the middle of a vast grassland in an unknown suburb. Leo was worried. The _Argo_ had been damaged too much. We needed to find plywood, some coolants to cool the engine down, and Celestial Bronze. At Celestial Bronze, Hazel groaned as if bad memories hit her head. Frank said he and Hazel would go get the plywood, and Jason and Piper offered to do the Celestial Bronze. Leo wanted to go get the coolant, cause he knew better. I was still flushed that I couldn't help out much in the jet, so I told them I would stay back. Coach was to take care of the ship from the mortals, now that they found out about his hidden talent and the Mist. Nico also wanted to stay back.

After they left to do their chores, me, Nico and Coach just stood there. While Coach practiced his Ninja skills, me and Nico kind of got bored. We wandered off after informing Hedge into the woods, took some turns and twists in silence. Finally we came to the road. A signboard that said 'Welcome to Kerala' was sunken down deep into the mud. Opposite to this signboard was a hospital. I wished mutely that the people in the hospital would be all right.

Then I saw them: Nila's parents.

Nila's parents. The parent's of the girl who I had hurt.

They had followed me like the guilt in my heart. Inseparable

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**That is that with this chapter! Thanks for the support and reviews! Please review more and check out my other Fan fiction! And...Oh! Help out my friend xXxiluvLeoValdezxXx. :)**


	7. Nila and my Miseries

**Nila and my miseries.**

Immediately, I had forgotten that Nico was to my side. I had forgotten... But I had remembered one thing: I had to check on Nila.

I ran towards the hospital, leaving Nico behind. I sneaked past Nila's parents, who if had spotted me, would have gotten into a terrible frenzy.

Nila's parent's were as good-looking as her: had the same curly locks spindling down her shoulders, the same glowing skin and dark eyes. Mr. Achari was classy. But presently, Mrs. Achari was shedding tears of sorrow while Mr. Achari comforted her, all of which was my fault.

When I went into the hospital, the receptionist asked me who I was. I told her I was the ward Nila's friend, and she guided me over to her room. The room looked like any other, except the atmosphere was glum and lonely. When I looked through the glassed door, I felt a twinge of pain. Pursing my lips, I drew the door open and stepped into the air-conditioned room. Nila's back was faced towards me.

I touched the blue blanket covering her body daintily. She turned, and I couldn't help but look elsewhere. It was an aching sight.

"Who? Who is it?" Her voice was no longer hers. It was broken and distant, not containing the prim air that it once had. Her pulse increased, and I battled the will to take her into my arms.

"It's me. Preethi."

I got the reaction I wanted. She started to flop her hands and legs, fiddling with the blanket and bringing it over her chin, "No... Stay away from me. Monster! She's here to kill me! Someone help! HELP!"

I screened her mouth with a swipe. "Ssh. I'm sorry. I really am. It wasn't my fault."

But she wasn't buying it. She thrashed her arms at my face. "Help! Please!"

"SSH! I'm here to see you!" I whispered. "I'm sorry! Please, be quiet. I'll try to explain everything!"

She seemed uncertain, but her voice still screeched her plea.

"Please."

Her hands relaxed, lolling off the side of the bed. She was still restless, but with another pleading, she calmed down completely.

"Listen, Nila." I said serenely. "It wasn't me. It was my desire to get revenge. It runs in my blood, believe it or not, the blood-lust for it. And I still am not over the fact that I hurt you for my own selfish reasons, Nila. We could've been friends. Good friends. But because I'm part of that magical world, I guess we're just not meant to be together."

I knew Nila couldn't decipher a single word I had just said, but _I_ could. It made me feel better, as if a waterfall of bad thoughts had emptied itself into it's rightful valley.

Nila bit her lip, and her eyeless face softened. "Please leave." She whispered.

"Nila, I-"

"Please go, Preethi." She said, composedly. It was hard to believe she was gaining her poise. "I apologize for the hard time I've given in your life. And I understand about this magical world your talking about. I experienced it myself, just yesterday. Now... I can see why this magical world and our normal one shouldn't go together." She pointed at her sockets. "It's dangerous. And... I don't want you to do any more harm. I don't want you to hurt any of these innocent people around here, and I don't want _us_ to hurt you others. Promise me... you will never interrupt any regular being's life. I don't hate you Preethi. In fact, you've proved a point. Two people that are different can never be peaceful together. That is why your life had been miserable at school. You weren't one of us."

"I—I promise."

"Now, go. I have an operation to do just half an hour from now. I need to get fake eyes, I think."

I nodded, knowing that it was invisible to Nila. I stepped out the door and walked downstairs and outside the hospital.

I thought of what Nila had said. That's why I had been a loner at school. No one was like me. But what about aboard the_ Argo_? Where they going to like me? They should. They have to. I didn't want to tolerate any of this piece of turd anymore.

I was leaning against a tree, looking around where Nico had gone to, when suddenly, Piper came from behind me.

She said. "Okay, come, Preethi. We have to go."

"Go where?"

"You'll see.'

* * *

**This is actually another cliffhanger xD. There will be an unexpected twist in the next 'O.C' Chapter.**

**Next Stop: Tartarus!**

**(OMG SHORT! SHORT CHAPTER xD I'll make this one up by making the next one long)**


	8. Annabeth

**Warning: Brace yourselves. This is going to get violent. **

* * *

_Annabeth_

'AHHH!'

Annabeth turned to see Percy kneeling down, his hands over his head.

Annabeth shrilled, barreling towards him. The furies were above their heads, attacking, but Annabeth couldn't care less. Percy...

The manticore charged itself at the furies, growling. Annabeth's hand shoved Percy's hair out of the way, to reveal a deeply lodged nail. One of the furies had just shot it's nail outward, and it had penetrated the flesh in Percy's head.

How far it had gone, Annabeth couldn't see. But she knew she had to pry it out, no matter how much pain it gave Percy. The only way to save his life, this was.

She tried to pluck it out with her own nails, but they broke off, injuring her cuticles. She didn't bother. She just kept yanking at it. It was like a cork closing an airtight container.

She placed Percy's moaning head gently on the floor. Putting her hand into his pocket, she pulled out the transforming pen Riptide, and removed the cap. It turned into a full-length sword.

With the help of the sharp tip, Annabeth edged it into the inappreciable gaps and made gentle upward movements. With the help of the hilt, she fully removed the huge nail from his scalp.

The next thing that happened, however, was dangerous by itself. Blood dripped down from the cavern-like wound, matting his head in the nauseating red liquid. Annabeth gasped, her hands ripping away from his head for a moment. Her bloodstained fingers traced lines on her face as she placed them on her cheeks, sickened.

Reflexively, she took off her Camp Half Blood T-shirt and soaked the blood from his wound. All the blood percolated into it, but more just kept coming. She dried it again, and examined the wound more closely.

The nail had poked itself down well beyond the layers of flesh. His skull was revealed. In the little amount of light coming from the radiant pub, she could make out a small dent in his skull. This meant Percy was going to be vulnerable to concussions.

One of her hand went to the leather twine in her Camp necklace while the other held the T-shirt down against his wound. It had already turned from orange to red. Percy was still breathing, but his face was pale instead of tan.

The manticore had come back. He announced, "The furies are defeated. I—"

"Get me nectar and ambrosia please." Annabeth said absently. She was trying to remove the knot on the twine with one hand, and after some attempts, she succeeded.

The manticore did not hesitate. He just disappeared off to somewhere, to do as he was requested.

She hurriedly put the twine aside, and with another hand, slid the pin from the two straps of her camisole. Ripping the pin in half and literally turning it into a needle, she placed it in between her teeth and inserted the thread into hole. With that, she removed the T-shirt, opened the gory wound wide, and pricked the pin into the flimsy piece of raw meat that once used to be his scalp. She performed a suture pattern, looping the thread into the previous skin and weaving continuously before biting the strong leather couldn't bite it first, but using Riptide from her side, she managed to chew the ends off. She didn't care about her hanging camisole straps while her hands worked furiously over his head. She only cared about Percy and his well being.

The manticore returned with the ambrosia and nectar just as Annabeth finished wiping the blood. She kissed Percy's head. He had gone into a coma.

The manticore passed some of the foodstuff to her. She opened Percy's mouth and trickled some nectar into his mouth and fed him some ambrosia. The ambrosia wasn't easy to put into his mouth. She had to nearly stuff it down his throat.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

Annabeth started to cry. Alas, Percy had left her. His heart wasn't beating. He wasn't breathing.

She put her head to his immobile chest. The manticore knelt behind her, placing a hand on her bare shoulder. Percy was gone— The Percy she had wanted to stay by her. The Percy that was there for her whenever there was trouble and she was there for his.

But then, a miracle took place. Percy started to cough at a spasmodic rate, and Annabeth took her head off his chest, lifted him up to sitting position, and tapped his back. He retched, a huge chunk of undigested ambrosia came out from his mouth.

Gasping for air, Percy coughed. That wasn't from the vomiting. It was from Annabeth's hug. She wasn't helping anymore. She was laughing, tears pouring out from her eyes, choking him nearly to coma again.

"Percy!" Annabeth said, wiping at her tears. "You're here!"

"Yes, of course I'm here!" He rasped. "I'm alive, aren't I?"

He bent down, relaxing. Annabeth rubbed his back, to help him breath. The manticore was grinning, ear to ear.

When Percy made eye-contact, he looked better than before. "What happened?"

Annabeth explained everything that had happened, showing him the nail that she had just taken out. She thanked the manticore for getting her the medicinal food. He replied that he had hurried off to the pub to get it for them.

Percy winced. "My head's still throbbing. Did my skull really get hurt?"

Annabeth nodded.

His eyes drifted from her face to her camisole. His face turned red. He gazed at the rock formation all of a sudden. Annabeth had just realized how low the neck was. She pulled it up and covered her bare shoulders.

"Uh..."

"Um... Here. Take my T-shirt."

Percy took off his and slipped it over Annabeth's head. She was blushing brightly.

"Uh, should we move on?" Percy asked.

"No..." Annabeth said. "Bad question, boy. We gotta rest."

The manticore was muttering, "So romantic."

"Come on." Percy said, leaning against the formation, pulling Annabeth's head against his lap. "Let's join Pat to the troop."

* * *

**That's it! Have fun! Next chapter will be longer!**


	9. Felonious Monsters

**Felonious monsters.**

* * *

"Piper?" I asked, as she dragged me on and on into the cool forests of Kerala. "Where are we going?"

"Just come, will you?" She urged.

"But Piper..." I yanked my hand from hers, and began backing up.

"Come...Okay?" Piper's voice was wavering.

"You— ?"

Piper's image flickered. Suddenly, a boy older than me was standing in her place. He looked ragged, with hair akin to pale mop strands and skin tinged with green. He had dark eyes that looked sleepless and worn out, and he looked malnourished. His teeth were seedy, not at all strong seeming.

He said, stretching out his hands. "_Incatamentum: Ligatis Fune._"

I somehow knew what this language is. Latin. And I understood it too. 'Charm: Bonds'

I felt something tie around my body, pulling all my parts together. I slumped onto the ground, unable to overcome the invisible nooses. The guy simply walked forward and picked me up. I pounded his back, but he just kept carrying me on and on.

He threw me into the trunk of a car and closed it. Then, I felt some exhaustion and rumbling, and the car was off.

It felt like forever. My back started cramping up, and I tried to stretch as much as possible. I felt a feral anger take over me, the same one that I felt when I battled Nila. It was uncontrollable. Suddenly, a glowing light lit the room, the source unseen. I looked at it, astonished. How did I do that?

Who was this guy? I wanted to know. He had spoken in Latin. And, how did I understand Latin. I was Tamil!

We didn't travel for long. Or at least, It didn't feel like long. When I got pulled out of the trunk by the boy, he released me with another charm, but clasped my hands with bronze cuffs.

I saw that I was standing in front of a clock-tower. The time read 7:45. It was night, and it had only been mid-afternoon when I was in Nila's hospital!

There was a graffiti on the tower that read, "Karnataka, the one and only."

"Come, we need to talk with you." He said. It seemed like English was his second language.

He forced me forward and shoved me down a stairwell. We entered a tunnel under the tower. There was nothing but grey walls on either side, and the filthy smell of dust. There were puddles of water here and there, and rats swarmed the corners and drainage.

After a while, we confronted a wooden door. The boy uttered another charm, and the door opened.

The sight inside was devastating. Pools of blood lay uncleaned all over. More guys as well as girls sat on crates pulled together. They were having a small chat, but ones we were in, all eyes turned to face me. The girls looked Goth, and so did the guys. They bared their teeth. They weren't seedy. In fact, when I looked at the guy holding me, his teeth were actually diamonds...

...Stained with blood.

That's right. Dried blood stuck in between his teeth. My heart flooded into my throat.

All of them had diamonds for teeth. Honed diamonds that could cut your esophagus in half.

In the middle of the room sat a giant. She was as big as an Asoka. She was fat, with oiled hair braided down both her shoulders. Her eyes were colorless, like the crystalline texture of water. Her skin was also a light green, like the rest of them in the room. She wore a large Hollister T-shirt which was optically transparent, yet didn't reveal the skin underneath. She wore sweatpants and large polythene bags for shoes. She smiled menacingly, baring at me with fist-sized diamonds. Blood there too.

"Pallas." I whispered.

"What did you say, darling?" She said, cranking up unseen aids. "I can't hear you."

"Ma'am." The boy said, punted me onto my thighs.

"Ah, yes. Bunty, right?"

"Ma'am, my name's Buddy." He said. Buddy? I got captured by a guy named Buddy?

"Ya whatever." She said, waving her hand. "And, Preethi. You know why you're here, don't you?"

"No..." How did she know my name?

"We... Well." She shrugged. "I have a sore throat. Can anyone else explain?"

"I'll, _Mademoiselle_." A girl stood up from one of the crates. "We're all children of Hecate, except for... Of course, our Mistress. We've been betrayed by the gods, including Hecate. We feast on any holy godliness that comes by."

"Gaia, she paid us to eat the main seven demigods." Pallas continued from there. "We settled in Karnataka, our headquarters. My Hecate magicians have spread out all over India to eat you if they got the chance. But they didn't. So we finally got you here."

"Soon, you're friends will be here." Buddy said. "And we'll have the feast of our life. We've had you here first because the blood of revenge is— tainted."

"What do you mean?"

"Revenge is a dirty job. It is a job for bad sports, like you. And henceforth, it will be disgusting."

"Gaia told me that the present _Argo_ crew isn't really important, now that she has those horrid Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase in her trap. So we have a chance to fill our tummies."

"What are you—you _monsters_ called." I spat.

Another girl said. "We have no name. We just work under Pallas."

"And now" Pallas said. "Let us eat whilst her blood tastes moderate. It might curdle."

Buddy came over and tried to strip my shirt off. The two girls slid the sleeves of my blouse up, and with a swipe of their nails, they cut gashes in my bare skin.

I shrieked with horror. Pallas grinned and said. "Cutting bare skin gives you better blood than cutting on top of the clothes."

Buddy couldn't get my shirt off, so he lifted my skirt up till my thighs. He sunk his teeth into it. I don't know how deep it went, but I could only barely manage the pain.

More of these people horded around me. One boy, who looked like Buddy's clone, unbuttoned my attire and started sucking on my stomach. I screamed, trying to thrust his face away. "Tenderize the skin." Pallas said, "Suck on it. It makes the blood clot."

Another two girls pulled my sleeves down and nibbled on my shoulders like they were bacon or something. A boy and another girl bit into my ears. i was being engulfed by cannibals.

As I endured the sadistic mutilation, sitting there almost threadbare, a strange thought ran through my mind, 'Revenge is neither offense or defense. Revenge is a simple reflex. The outcome of revenge depends on the _why._Why is one taking revenge?'

It seemed totally whimsical and out of place, but then I realized. They were doing something serious to me now. If I had to take revenge now, it would be strong. Big. Huge and unimaginable. That was the way to get out of here.

Suddenly, my body started to burn. The cannibals snarled, and when I opened my eyes, I found I wasn't really burning. Flames curled around my body, making a barricade and protecting me from the people. The fires were made out of blazing symbols: Hammers and broken tires. A beastly irascibility came over me, and I shot fire from my open palms. I was bleeding, but I couldn't feel anything over the feeling of reprise. I was quickly overpowering them.

Pallas bellowed. She stood up and stormed towards me. I tried to shoot fire at her, but she simply just rubbed the spot like an ant had just bit her and moved forward. I decided to run.

I dashed out of the door and up the tunnel. I heard shouts and roars from behind me, but I didn't look back. My body wasn't ignited, but it still had a faint glow. I ran up the stairs and into the road.

I unfolded my tattered blouse and skirt. I jogged a bit further, and ended up in a crowded market street. People walked around, buying vegetables and fruits and all sorts of merchandises. A bunch of boy sprinted past me, literally knocking me back. I didn't know where I was. There was no one around here that I knew. I felt even more scared than I had for the past two days, and even more lonelier.

Pain surged from my thighs to my stomach, to my hands to my shoulders and ears. I wanted to collapse. Here, everyone were strangers.

I glanced at a man leaning against the wall, smoking. He blew smoke into my face and grinned at me with his _pan-parag _coated teeth.

I stepped back and bumped into a stout lady in a sari. She turned around, and I couldn't help but notice the scary mole on her chin.

I just turned around and dashed further down the street. Every face was alien and pressuring. I wiped the tears that fell from my eyes and kept speeding.

I came across a dead-end. It seemed deserted, except for a black cat with maggots swelling it's stomach up. I sobbed, sweat and soot sliding down the side of my face. Blood poured from my wrists, and my thigh had hollow tooth marks filled with bloods. I lift my shirt to see the damage there. There was a red spot, kind of like a hickey over there. My shoulders ached. I found a diamond established in one of my ears, and with a lot of moans and weeps of suffering, I managed to get it out.

I closed my eyes and leaned against the trashcan. What was I going to do? How was I supposed to find them. The creature inside me had faded away. I didn't feel any power inside me, at all.

Pallas was going to find me eventually. They were going to take me, strip me nude,and eat me up alive.

Just then, a shadow came into existence. I made out a boy. I chewed on my lip nervously, not moving at all. The boy closed in, and I made out Nico.

"Hey." He said, casually.

I wanted to thank him for sensibly being there, cry and wrap him in a bear hug. But I kept my mouth shut, and only nodded.

"What's up?" He asked, awkwardly.

I wanted to shout at him, tell him that I just got bitten by razor-sharp diamond-toothed decapitating kids who were ruled by the giant Pallas. But I didn't have the energy. So I said, "Nico, can we go?"

He shrugged as if to say, '_Yeah, whatever'. _His eyes fluttered towards my bare thigh, and his skin went wan.

"Gods." He took off his thin black jacket and ripped the sleeves off. Then he wrapped it around my thighs. He examined my bleeding ears, and tied another sleeve like a bandanna around my head. He cleaned the wounds on my shoulders, and told me to rub my stomach to let the blood flow. He handed me something to eat: He said it was godly food.

I felt a lot better. There were still pricking pain shooting up my limbs, but I was sure I could handle it now.

Nico was choking up. I had no idea why. He wasn't going through any pain, but he seemed to be in some detailed sadness.

We sat up there in terrible silence. After a while, he asked, "How old are you?"

"Oh, fourteen. I'll be turning fifteen day after tomorrow." I said, slightly annoyed.

"My sister would've been fifteen now." Nico said. His cracked lips quavered.

I gazed at reminded me of a really young boy, very weak and frail, pitiful and rejected. Cornered, owning a broken soul.

Nico unexpectedly hurled himself over me. I gasped. Cold tears wet my blouse. He wheezed. "She'd be fifteen now..."

My trembling hands hugged him back. "Nico... It's okay. Don't worry."

"I want my sister. Please, please—" His body shook under my arms. I put my cheek to his hair, his soft hair, and whispered, "Nico. I'll be you're sister. I promise. Don't you dare cry again, okay?"

We were there for a while, him in my hand, seeking for sisterly love. Then, he stood up and cleared his throat. "No telling what happened to anyone, okay?"

I agreed. "I'll be there for you Nico. I'll help you out."

He nodded. Helping me up, we stepped into a shadow on the wall(Yes, a shadow. I have no idea how) and traveled back to _Kerala_.


	10. Nico

_Nico_

They had safely shadow traveled back to the place the Argo had been parked in. Leo was hurling all the materials, hammering them down into the hull of the ship. Coach was helping, and so was Jason and Frank. But the work was only done half-way through.

Nico looked at the Coach and shook his head, "Hedge, do this more efficiently, will you?"

"Well, sorry!" Coach said. "I'm hungry. There's nothing wrong in chomping off bites of metal here and there."

'Yeah, like we aren't hungry as well' thought Nico, but didn't say it out loud, for it sounded rude.

Nico and Preethi got into the unfinished _Argo II_. Neither of them talked, until they went into the mess hall, where Piper and Hazel sat alone. They looked pale and exhausted.

"Ouch," Preethi said, touching the back of her neck. "Shrapnel."

"Ooh." Hazel moaned. "It's dangerous. Come, I'll take it out for you."

After they left, Nico asked Piper. "Was it simple, finding all those requirements?"

"Not really." She replied. "We barely just made it. We got attacked by monsters. "

"What kind?"

"Just the normal kind." She said vaguely. "Not too important. What's important is what happened to Preethi."

"Well, I don't know." He said. "I didn't ask. But, I know she got bit by something, in a lot of places."

"Ouch!" She exclaimed. "Which kind?"

"Oh, just the _normal_ kind." Nico shot back. "What the Hades?"

Piper snorted. "If you _really_ want to know what happened to us, fine. We got cornered by a bunch of hooligan _empousa_."

"Classic." Nico said. "It's been quite some time since we've seen classic monsters like that. We're only encountering Gods and giants nowadays, aren't we?"

"Mhm. Now, let us go to Preethi. I'm going to ask her what happened. She seems battered." Piper said, shaking her head.

They stood up to leave to Annabeth's bunk. They walked slowly and quietly to the room; Piper knocked politely. Hazel pulled the door from inside.

"Quiet. She's sleeping." She whispered.

Nico sighed haughtily. Hazel gave him an annoyed look, and beckoned for them to sit next to the bed.

She was indeed napping. She had changed into an oversize Camp T-shirt that came up to her knees. The blouse and skirt she had worn before were thrown aside. Her hair was drenched, and it curtained down the bedside like a black waterfall.

Nico couldn't help wonder how much she resembled Bianca. She had the same dark hair, same freckles over her nose. Her skin was a light coffee brown. The only thing different about her and Bianca were her hazel eyes. Bianca had black ones.

What had happened there was a mere breakdown, thought Nico to himself. He had cried on her shoulder because he just couldn't help it. Even after all these years, Nico felt bereft of company, and he couldn't control his anxiety when he wept. He was too embarrassed to tell the others about what had happened.

"What happened to her? She seems drained." Piper asked.

Hazel dragged Piper out of the cabin, saying. "Well, she met Pallas's army.'

"What?" Nico asked, astonished.

"Nico, remember I told you she was in Karnataka, using underground navigation?" Hazel asked. "Relating it with her information tells me that Pallas has set base at some underground area in Karnataka."

"So, she encountered 'em?" Piper asked.

"Exactly."

"So they bit her." Nico said. "Bit by bit, alive?"

"Yes."

"That is a lot of trauma to get around in one day." Piper said. "She is a new demigod. What I went through is nothing compared to this."

"I feel sorry for her."

"By the way." Nico said, trying to get it out of his head. "Whose T-shirt is she wearing?"

"Jason's" Hazel said. She looked like she was going to laugh. "That was the only one I could find that was fresh."

Piper raised an eyebrow at Hazel and mouthed, 'Seriously?'. The scene cheered Nico up. He grinned and said. "Hey, sharing is caring!"

"You've been spending too much time around Leo, Nico." Said Piper, smacking him on the shoulder and giggling.

Their moods were higher than it was for the whole day. But Nico would never had laughed if he had know the hidden dangers about to lash out.

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**LONG TIME NO SEE READERS!**

**I was having my exams (Still going on, sadly D:) So I couldn't type anything for all those days, from this Saturday onward, I will be free and flying!**

**Thanks for the reviews! (17!) Thanks RealLeilaJackson and all the others who've reviewed so far!**

**PLEASE REVIEW A BIT MORE! I NEED ALL THE ENCOURAGEMENT I CAN GET!**

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	11. The camp at war

**A/N: ._. What am I doing back in Fan Fiction?**

**Sudden urge, that's what I'm doing.**

**Never mind my schizophrenia. Just read and review.**

**(I do not own anything)**

* * *

_'My girl, why do you have the sudden wish to wage war?' said an old man with a beard. He wasn't a man, exactly. His other half was horse. He stood on the front porch of a house with another girl. _

_"Chiron, or whoever you might be," the girl said. She had long dark hair and deep eyes, "the Greeks and the Romans may never get together. We are not meant to be a clan of one."_

_ "What about at certain circumstances?" The man said. "Desperate times?" _

_The girl was quiet was sometime. Then, she licked her lips and said, "It would not work. We will always argue, notice our differences, our diversities. The Greeks will feel inferior to the Romans, as we have a newer empire than yours, a stronger one." She added, with an unmistakable air of pride._

_"Well, Reyna." The man's eyes seemed calm, but he voice had an edge to it now. "You should not forget that the Roman forms of the gods, they have evolved from a fragment of your imaginations. They were initially Greek."_

_"So your hinting that the Romans lack originality?" The girl, Reyna, snapped. "That they created a mere replica of Greece?"_

_"No, my dear, I'm not hinting." Chiron said coolly. "I'm quoting the visible."_

_Reyna looked like she wanted to through a scathing remark, but she bit it back, "See." She said. "We don't get along."_

_"It is true." Chiron said. "I agree. But that does not mean we can't-"_

_"Reyna!" A boy came running towards her from near the pine tree in the horizon. He had pale blond hair and a cruel face. He had crazed blue eyes and he wore a toga over a set of modern clothes. He gasped for air with his palms on his knees as he got aboard the porch, then shot Chiron an icy stare. _

_He slowly turned towards Reyna, saying, "We have set base at a farmhouse not far from _here_. Our legion is training there. We have set up our weaponry. If only you give us permission, we can start with the-"_

_Reyna raised her hand and the boy quietened. "You are not to interrupt, Octavian. This is an important decision in hand."_

_Octavian appeared offended, but remained silent. _

_"Reyna." Chiron said quietly, __"This is precious time in our hand. Precious time to make the right decision. If one of us loose, the other will suffer great loss as well, but in the enemy's hand. The gods will fall. Our civilization will become extinct once and for all. Mortals, they will be in deep peril as well."_

_"So...?" Octavian asked mockingly. "I have a feeling you are afraid, Chiron. This... camp, so called, is unaware of our war waging, am I right? You are afraid that they have not trained yet. You are nothing but a-" But Reyna shut him up again._

_"This camp, Octavian, this camp has not trained and is clueless of your war, I admit. " Chiron said. "But they are not cowards. They are brave, strong. You will not underestimate them."_

_"Okay Chiron. I have not come to a conclusion." Reyna said, sighing exasperatedly, "I'm going to merely push this further. But mind, Chiron. I am not negotiating with you once more. You better start preparing, because when it is time to get to the battlefield, you will only hear a conch blow from the distance."_

_"Someone is watching us." Octavian said. He was looking at the direction I viewed him from. A cold feeling crept through me. Then he waved in front of my eyes, and my vision blurred. _

I woke up totally surprised. No one had mentioned that the Camp these people came from was in danger. And that Octavian, he had known I was there. How had he done that? He had ended my dream abruptly with a swish of his hand.

I could hear Nico laughing from outside. It was the first time she had ever heard him laugh, so full of mirth. There was innocence in his voice that was far beyond appreciable.

"Hey." I said, pushing the door wide open. Nico snapped his head around to look at me, and I cast him a wary smile.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Oh, nothing." Nico said, controlling a smirk.

His face had returned to a fresh olive complexion, not at all bloodless. He seemed ages younger, eleven maybe, definitely not a depressed thirteen year old.

I didn't want to disrupt this jolly mood. I did not know what impact the information I held might cause. It was indeed valid information, for it did not feel like a dream at all. And Octavian and that frigid feeling made me want to shudder.

"Carry on." I said, walking away.

I could feel smiles piercing from my back. The ship was about to start flying, cause I could feel the hull vibrating beneath me. It seemed as so they had accomplished the job.

When I got above deck, I saw Jason standing at the railing, all grime-covered and sweaty. He seemed distracted; He was twiddling his thumb and peeking into the sky.

I did not feel in the need to disturb him, so I left him where he was. Frank was in an argument with Coach Hedge. The only person who seemed composed enough to listen to me was Leo, who could at least lend a ear. I hadn't talked to him at all. It had only been half a day, but it felt like ages.

He was steering the boat, his eyebrows creased with concentration. He might listen to me talk about the fate of this Camp. I had no idea whether the news was important or not, but I had to find out.

"Hello." I whispered. He did not flinch, because he hadn't heard my voice.

I cleared my throat and said a bit more confidently, "Hello."

"Hi!" His voice was unnaturally loud and cheerful. I would have laughed if I hadn't found it strange.

"Um... Well, do you know where you're going?"

"Oh, to Greece! Greece's dope!" Leo said, like I didn't no that already.

"No, you're actually about to hit a deserted building in the middle of nowhere." I said calmly.

Leo's eyes widened, and he lurched the ship to the right, only missing a very damaging hit. "Sorry, Preethi." He said sheepishly.

"Yeah."

"Sorry for everything."

I realized it was for being so crazy the other day. I nodded, although he couldn't see me do it.

"'Kay." I remember what I was here for after standing there rather immobilized for moments. "Hey, you know, your so called Camp Half-Blood is under a threat of attack?"

"Yeah, I know that."

"But, they're there already, the other army." I said. "Two of them were there, talking with that Chiron of yours. I think their names were Reyna... and... Octavian."

"What?" Leo sounded alarmed. "They've reached?"

"Yeah."

"Already?"

"I guess so."

"This is bad, bad, so darn bad." Leo said shaking his head. Then, he pursed his lips, and called, "JASON! FRANK! Get over here!"

They came after a second or two, appearing just as startled, "What did you want us for?" Frank asked.

"This girl, she says that the Romans have already got to our Camp." Leo said.

"What?"

"When the conch blows, these Romans are going to attack your Chiron and his fellows." I said.

"So they haven't started attacking already, but will do in the very near future.' Jason said stonily. Then he turned to look at me, "Who told you that?"

"I had a dream."

"So, you're taking a dream seriously?" Frank said. He laughed slightly, "You're kidding me."

"It was a dream, huh?" Leo asked, relieved.

"Yes, but it seemed real. You have to believe me."

"No, you were probably just tired." Jason said. "You were hurt quite a lot."

"No! Octavian, he looked right at me! There was this weird sensation in my body. It felt so real, all of it!"

"Okay, I'm going back now. I'm watching _The Big Bang Theory_, no disturbance please." Frank said casually, as if we hadn't ever been facing transportation malfunctions and deadly monsters.

Jason grinned at me, and nodded, "It's fine Preethi. Go spend some happy time, you know?"

They all thought I was joking, I recognized angrily, They all thought I was silly.

I stormed out the pit and ran down the stairs to where Nico and the rest had initially been. It was evening already, and they were all probably in the lounge, still festive and merry. I got back into my cabin and sat back on my bed, completely annoyed.

These were the supposed demigods who had been assigned a quest? I thought bitterly. They had all been lenient on this matter. They were becoming rather irresponsible. Why was the Camp so foolish as to put a bunch of immature demigods on duty?

I was half mad at everyone to have not very much cared about me getting hurt. I had just encountered cannibals. They had all just fought with monsters. They're steering towards Greece, without knowing what is ahead of them. Then why not prepare?

Well, I thought, I don't have to care for them if they don't do it themselves.

Pursing my lips, I sat there. I did not not know how much time had passed, but it has passed somehow.

It had passed.

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**END OF CHAPTER.**


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